Player: Khalid Thomas
Position: Forward
Height / Weight: 6-9/210
Junior College: College of Southern Idaho
Offers: Arizona, Baylor, Florida State, Hawaii, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Recruiting Services: Rivals  | 24/7 Sports
Cumulative Ranking: N/A

committed!!! #Gunsup pic.twitter.com/Nni9j6KpIx

— khalibs (@khalid_thomas7) October 1, 2018

Khalid Thomas is the preseason JUCO player of the year after averaging 14.7 points a game on 55% from the floor, 41% beyond the three-point line, averaging 6.5 rebounds, and about an assist a game.

Thomas is a prolific scorer, if you stick around for all 5 minutes of highlights, you’re going to see him drain bucket after bucket from beyond the arc. Thomas has an incredibly smooth stroke and he can score from pretty much anywhere on the floor. One of the things that I though twas interesting was that Thomas really isn’t a high-end athlete, he’s okay, but he’s a scorer and that’s probably going to be the biggest contribution for what he brings to the team. Thomas can shoot.

A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. spoke to Thomas about what head coach Chris Beard sees him as at Texas Tech:

“Coach (Chris) Beard sees me as a positionless player, and I see myself as being that too,” said Thomas, who had visits to Arizona, Oregon and Baylor scheduled before making his Monday decision. “Coach Beard made it crystal clear that I was needed. When I got there, I felt welcomed, wanted and needed. That was probably one of the biggest thing I took from the visit.”

And The Oregonian’s Andrew Nemec also spoke to Thomas who said that he’s shutting down his recruiting process:

“The visit overall was really solid, as you can probably guess,” he said. “What stuck out to me the most was the atmosphere. Everybody, including the coaches, are hands-on. The players are hands-on with the program. Everybody is invested. That was the biggest thing for me – the family atmosphere.”

Rather than continue with the recruiting process, Thomas decided he was ready to shut things down, canceling three more scheduled trips.

“I shut it down,” he said. “I had Arizona this weekend. I had Oregon set up. I had Baylor. To be honest, I just didn’t think I was going to find a visit better than that one.”

Thomas is an elite scorer and he’s probably a real match-up problem if he’s at one of the forward spots. And the 41% three-point percentage is what’s key as Thomas is shooting nearly 4.5 three-pointers per game, so Thomas is living outside the three-point line quite a bit. His 6.5 rebounds is fine for a forward his size and Thomas averaged just barely 1 assist a game and had just a shade over 1 steal and 1 turnover a game. Thomas also only had 13 blocks on the year. Again, Thomas is a scorer and Texas Tech will need that for sure.

I think there are four sports available in the 2019 class, Mooney, Francis, Odiase and Owens, so there should be at least three more spots available. I did this table on the fly, so if I have anything wrong, let me know.