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Off the Field

Thomas performing in his high school band

Today is the day after the Super Bowl. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at a professional football player who is also an accomplished drummer:

Andrew Thomas started 41 games in three seasons at The University of Georgia, missing just the Sugar Bowl in 2019 after declaring for the NFL Draft. Thomas spoke with SI.com’s Connor Orr in February of 2020 how an obsession for the classic movie Drumline ultimately helped him read and react to defenses. Some may not know, but Andrew Thomas fancies himself a musician. The 6’5, 320-pound, first-round tackle is actually a first-class drummer as well. And it’s something that he accredits to the movie Drumline: 

“Funny story, when I was in daycare my favorite movie was Drumline but it was rated PG-13 so I would have to have the daycare call my parents so they could let them know it was okay for me to watch it. That was my favorite movie growing up so I picked the drums.”

His ability to play the drums and read and react to musical notes is something that Thomas told Connor Orr, translates to football: 

“It definitely does. When it comes to instruments it takes repetition and that’s the same thing with football and offensive line. It’s the same techniques over and over and drilling them into your head. Reading music is the same thing as recognizing plays. And one of the things we’d do in high school band was called a site read we would go to a concert and then we’d have to site read a piece of music we’d never seen before and react to it. It’s kind of like when you’re on the field and you see a play called but something happens that you’ve never seen before. You just gotta react to it.”

Thomas was drafted by the New York Giants in the 1st round (4th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft.