Usage / Role
33%
Rotational offensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2012-2015Ohio State
Michael Thomas
WR • 6'3" • Los Angeles, CA, USA
Alpha targetExplosive finisher
Michael Thomas reads as a alpha target based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Impact Production
100
Top-tier box-score impact for a receiver
lowelite
Reliability
100
Regular contributor with several takeover games
lowhigh
Star Power
80
High-upside career profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2015 Postseason · Ohio State
121314141515
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Ohio State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Virginia Tech
Player Story
Michael Thomas built his college career from 2012 through 2015 as a wide receiver from Los Angeles, CA wearing No. 3, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Michael Thomas' career was his receiving role:...
Read the story3★
- Committed To
- —
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2021
NFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2016
- Selection
- Round 2 · Pick 16
- Overall
- No. 47
- NFL Team
- New Orleans Saints
Michael Thomas, WR. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2015 Postseason · Ohio State. Michael Thomas reads as a alpha target based on recent role and receiving efficiency.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Receiving yards
- 1,602
- Receptions
- 113
- Touchdowns
- 18
Featured Highlight
Watch Michael Thomas on film
Michael Thomas Ohio State Highlights
2015 · Ohio State · Player Highlight
Michael Thomas college highlights at Ohio State.
- Season
- 2015
- Type
- Player highlight
Quick Answers
Michael Thomas quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Ohio State · WR
- Career Receiving Yards
- 1,602
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 6 entries · 31 games
- Best season
- 2015 Postseason · Ohio State
- Top game
- Virginia Tech
- Recruit profile
- 3-star · Jonesboro
- High school pipeline
- Jonesboro · 0 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- NFL Draft
- 2016 · Round 2 · Pick 16 · New Orleans Saints
- Latest roster
- No. 3 · Class 2015
- 2015 Receiving yards rank
- 781 receiving yards · WR 80th (top 9%) · Big Ten 9th (top 5%) · National 81st (top 5%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Rec | Rec Yds | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 Regular Season | Ohio State | 3 | 3 | 22 | 0 | 36.8 |
| 2013 Regular Season | Ohio State | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| 2014 Postseason | Ohio State | 15 | 11 | 119 | 1 | 82.7 |
| 2014 Regular Season | Ohio State | 15 | 43 | 680 | 8 | 82.7 |
| 2015 Postseason | Ohio State | 13 | 7 | 72 | 1 | 85.1 |
| 2015 Regular Season | Ohio State | 13 | 49 | 709 | 8 | 85.1 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas played WR for Ohio State. Across 4 tracked seasons, Michael Thomas recorded 1,602 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2015 with Ohio State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2015 Postseason
Ohio State paired 781 primary output with 82.2 efficiency.
Supporting note
2015 Postseason role shape
target-driven usage with 82.2 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2015 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Maryland
Win with an explosive receiving profile. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2015 Postseason · Ohio State
Games
13
Receiving Yards / G
60.1
Efficiency
82.2
Usage
26.7
Consistency
71.7
Best Game by takeover score
Maryland
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Notre Dame: 72. Virginia Tech: 46. Hawai'i: 52. Northern Illinois: 60. Western Michigan: 80. Indiana: 54. Maryland: 107. Penn State: 34. Rutgers: 103. Minnesota: 39. Illinois: 76. Michigan State: 8. Michigan: 50
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Notre Dame: 7 by 68.6. Virginia Tech: 2 by 100. Hawai'i: 5 by 69.3. Northern Illinois: 3 by 100. Western Michigan: 6 by 88.9. Indiana: 4 by 90. Maryland: 7 by 100. Penn State: 3 by 75.6. Rutgers: 5 by 100. Minnesota: 4 by 65. Illinois: 6 by 84.4. Michigan State: 2 by 26.7. Michigan: 2 by 100
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins64.4 · Games = 12 · +56.4 vs Losses
Losses8 · Games = 1 · -56.4 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
13 games
Featured metric
Receiving Yards
Top game by takeover score
Maryland
Best efficiency game
100 vs Michigan
| Result | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 1/1 | vs Notre Dame | W 44-28 | — | 7 | 72 | 10.3 | 10.30 | 1 | 15 |
| Sat 11/28 | @ Michigan | W 42-13 | — | 2 | 50 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 38 |
| Sat 11/21 | vs Michigan State | L 14-17 | — | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Sat 11/14 | @ Illinois | W 28-3 | — | 6 | 76 | 12.7 | 12.70 | 1 | 24 |
| Sun 11/8 | vs Minnesota | W 28-14 | — | 4 | 39 | 9.8 | 9.80 | 1 | 12 |
| Sun 10/25 | @ Rutgers100 receiving yards | W 49-7 | — | 5 | 103 | 20.6 | 20.60 | 1 | 50 |
| Sun 10/18 | vs Penn State | W 38-10 | — | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 11.30 | 1 | 20 |
| Sat 10/10 | vs Maryland100 receiving yards | W 49-28 | — | 7 | 107 | 15.3 | 15.30 | 0 | 31 |
| Sat 10/3 | @ Indiana | W 34-27 | — | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 13.50 | 1 | 23 |
| Sat 9/26 | vs Western Michigan | W 38-12 | — | 6 | 80 | 13.3 | 13.30 | 1 | 38 |
| Sat 9/19 | vs Northern Illinois | W 20-13 | — | 3 | 60 | 20 | 20 | 1 | 25 |
| Sat 9/12 | vs Hawai'i | W 38-0 | — | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 10.40 | 0 | 19 |
| Tue 9/8 | @ Virginia Tech | W 42-24 | — | 2 | 46 | 23 | 23 | 1 | 26 |
Player Story
Michael Thomas story
Michael Thomas built his college career from 2012 through 2015 as a wide receiver from Los Angeles, CA wearing No. 3, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Michael Thomas' career was his receiving role: 113 catches, 1,602 receiving yards, and 18 touchdowns across 31 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2015 with Ohio State. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
The value of the career arc is that it connects production to role, not just a name on a roster. With 31 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Ohio State.
The arc is straightforward: Michael Thomas moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Ohio State
2012-2015
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
201220132014201420152015
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 Regular Season | Ohio State | 22 | 48.9 | 7.4 | — |
| 2013 Regular Season | Ohio State | 0 | — | — | -22 |
| 2014 Postseason | Ohio State | 799 | 82.6 | 23.2 | 799 |
| 2014 Regular Season | Ohio State | 799 | 82.6 | 23.2 | 0 |
| 2015 Postseason | Ohio State | 781 | 82.2 | 26.7 | -18 |
| 2015 Regular Season | Ohio State | 781 | 82.2 | 26.7 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Virginia Tech
Week 2 · L 21-35
Loss with an explosive receiving profile.
98
Receiving Yards
100 takeover
98 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#2
vs Maryland
Week 6 · W 49-28 · Conference game
107
Receiving Yards
100 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
107 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#3
@ Rutgers
Week 8 · W 49-7 · Conference game
103
Receiving Yards
98.1 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
103 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
#4
vs Western Michigan
Week 4 · W 38-12
80
Receiving Yards
87.9 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
80 receiving yards with a 88.9 efficiency score.
#5
@ Michigan State
Week 11 · W 49-37 · Conference game
91
Receiving Yards
85.2 takeover
Win with an explosive receiving profile.
91 receiving yards with a 100 efficiency score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2015 Postseason · Ohio State
781 primary output · 82.2 efficiency · 26.7 usage
85.1
#2
2015 Regular Season · Ohio State
85.1
781 primary · 82.2 efficiency · 26.7 usage
#3
2014 Postseason · Ohio State
82.7
799 primary · 82.6 efficiency · 23.2 usage
Milestones
2
100+ receiving yards
0
8+ catch outings
1
2+ TD games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Michael Thomas
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