HawgBeat - Jaheim Thomas leads defense in Razorback debut
Arkansas football linebacker Jaheim Thomas led the defense in his Razorback debut against Western Carolina.
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It didn't take long for Cincinnati transfer linebacker Jaheim Thomas to make his presence felt with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
In Arkansas' season-opening victory over Western Carolina on Saturday, Thomas recorded a team-leading eight total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Head coach Sam Pittman said he believes Thomas was one of the team's most productive defenders against the Catamounts.
"I thought he played really well," Pittman said. "Didn't see him miss many tackles. I can't remember, maybe there was one on the running back outside, I don't think that was."
"But what a nice pickup for us. Just a wonderful kid, wonderful family, but again, he's a guy that played at Cincinnati. You can get them on the field a little bit faster, so yeah, I was really happy with him. He was happy after the game, so I'd imagine he played well."
Now a redshirt junior, Thomas saw action in 28 games during his first three seasons with the Bearcats, and he totaled 103 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks over his first three years.
According to Pro Football Focus, Thomas finished the game as the top linebacker for the Razorbacks with a 70.3 overall grade, including a second-best 79.2 rush defense grade.
"I feel like it went well," Thomas said. "There’s a lot of things I’ve got to work on, but just being able to go out there and have fun and ball with my teammates and make plays, I feel like that helped a lot."
"Felt real comfortable. [I felt] real comfortable with the defense and with my teammates, so just being able to still ball and jell together, continue to make plays, it’s going to help us a lot."
As a whole, the Arkansas defense played exceptionally against the Catamounts. The unit held Western Carolina to just 13 points across four quarters, propelling them to an overall Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 79.5
"We came out with a lot of juice," Thomas said. "We were hyped. We set pressure, made tackles, flew to the ball, flew around, just like Coach T-Will told us all week."
"Having that energy, guys flying around and making plays, having fun, I feel that helped us going into the first game."
A result of the high-energy play was the five turnovers — all by different players — forced by the defense. It was the first time Arkansas has intercepted four passes and created five turnovers in a game since facing Ole Miss in 2020. Thomas attributed the success to first-year defensive coordinator Travis Williams.
"He preached to us all week: turnovers, turnovers," Thomas said. "That was our game plan. We wanted to add turnovers. Make plays. Just having us out there flying around and able to make those plays when the opportunities came, that really helped us."
Arkansas' next opponent will be the Kent State Golden Flashes, who will travel down to Fayetteville on Saturday, Sept. 9 to take on the Razorbacks for a 3 p.m. CT kickoff. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
