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P Jonathan Thoma (official thread)

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hawaiianbuckeye;1542716; said:
I told you guys he'd win the job and be fine!

I'm also telling you we don't need to bring in a punter in the '10 class if Hagerup signs elsewhere (Florida). There's a kid in the '11 class that will be just as good and he's not even the starter on his team (St. Thomas Aquinas in FL) b/c the starter (Palardy) is a SR dual K/P who is committed to TN. So if Hagerup doesn't commit we'll be fine.
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Thoma is a senior. Unless they have someone on staff they feel comfortable with for next year (Buchana?), a punter is a must for '10.
 
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The release of punter Jon Thoma

That means release as in release from his household prison. The senior was back with the Buckeyes, averaging 38.3 yards on three punts in Saturday's win in the rain. But his real victory was getting back with the team after facing what was basically a quarantine after he came down with flu symptoms nine days ago.

Thoma missed last weekend's game against Toledo after suffering from the flu on Friday. Though he felt better on Friday night, doctors made him stay home and isolated in his apartment for 72 hours. Between Friday morning and Monday morning he left his place once.

"I went down to the store to buy a thermometer to check my temperature," Thoma said. "I was fine Friday, but they couldn't take the risk."

Thoma wasn't diagnosed with H1N1, but he was left to watch his teammates win a week ago.

"It was weird," Thoma said. "Even the year I redshirted, I traveled almost every game. I hadn't missed a game in four years, so it was definitely weird sitting on the couch."
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Defense (Heacock too) aces the exam vs. Illinois | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
 
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Jon Thoma is the most inconsistent punter of the Tressel era. It?s hard to label Thoma as terrible after a game where he booted a 54-yard punt and pinned Michigan inside its own 20 on three different occasions, but this guy has one of the most widely erratic legs on the planet. Much like the Penn State game, Thoma set up the first touchdown Saturday, but it came on a ball that hit at the 23-yard line and rolled 15 yards in Ohio State?s favor down to the Michigan seven. He also had punts of 28 and 31 yards, not to mention a 35-yarder in the fourth quarter that gave the Wolverines the ball at midfield. He excels at pinning teams close to their end zone, but it?s gotten to the point where Tressel might need to get Ben Buchanan ready for the long punts in the bowl game.
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The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More
 
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Every holiday a journey
Far-flung family means OSU punter celebrates Christmas around the world
Friday, December 25, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Brooke LaVALLEY | DISPATCH
Before heading to California for a family Christmas celebration and a date with Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State punter Jon Thoma adds a football ornament, given to him by his roommate's mother, to the tree in his home near campus.

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CRAIG HOLMAN | DISPATCH
Jon Thoma has punted 55 times for Ohio State so far this season. He's averaged 37.6 yards per kick and put 40 percent inside the opponents' 20-yard-line, with only two touchbacks. None of his kicks have been blocked.

I 'll be home for Christmas certainly isn't the theme song for Ohio State punter Jon Thoma and his family.

Along with his two sisters, his mother and father, they were scheduled to get up this morning in their home in Alliance, Ohio, in time to make a 5:30 a.m. flight out of Akron-Canton Airport. The final destination is Costa Mesa, Calif., where they will spend the day with his father's younger brother and family before Thoma catches a ride to the team's Rose Bowl hotel in west Los Angeles.

"So it's going to be yet another different Christmas morning," Thoma said. "But I'm used to that. As long as we're together with the family, it all works out."

Over the years, they have spent a few in Alliance, where his father, Jim Thoma, is an associate dean and director of the sports business program at Mount Union. But while growing up, there also were Christmases in Daphne, Ala., (his father was coaching near there), Marietta, Ga., (with his father's sister and family) and even at a resort in mid-Pennsylvania one year when his mother just wanted the family to get away for the holiday.

If that's a little ho-ho-hum, then consider Jon Thoma also has spent three Christmases in Malaysia.

"It's about being with my family, wherever that happens to be, wherever life has taken us," Thoma said.
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Every holiday a journey | BuckeyeXtra
 
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Thoma wants more: Ohio State senior punter Jon Thoma sent out word to Ohio State fans on Twitter after the Buckeyes' last game of the season, apologizing for his game when he averaged 38.6 yards per punt in nine tries against Michigan.

He'll use the Rose Bowl as his final chance to do better, while some family in California will be watching him punt for the first time.

"When I don't hit the punts I know I can, I feel I'm letting my team down, especially in a game like Michigan," Thoma said. "I had some good ones, but the bad ones really stick in your head more."

A fifth-year senior, Thoma won the job in the off-season and punted well early on. And his 55-yard punt on his first effort against Penn State swung the field position early in the game and helped send the Buckeyes on to a tough road win, as special teams led the way. But overall, Thoma averaged just 36.3 yards per punt over the last five games of the season, 3 fewer yards per punt than he averaged in his first six games.

The Buckeyes focus more on directional punting than on distance, though, and they need someone who can angle a kick to a certain spot. In that regard, Thoma has done his job in nearly eliminating the punt return game of the opposition. In 12 games, Ohio State opponents returned just eight punts for a total of 21 yards. The longest return of the year is 7 yards. So the punt return as a big play has been completely wiped out by Ohio State.

"Anything can happen when you [allow a return]. It's definitely wise to hit to a spot and get enough hang time so they don't have time to return it," Thoma said.

Oregon's punt return teams ranks 32nd in the nation, averaging 11.4 yards per return.
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Bucks look forward to Rose Bowl gifts: Ohio State Football | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com
 
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On draft day, GM Tom Heckert called defensive end Clifton Geathers "a monster." That was an apt hyperbole. The 6-7, 300-pound Geathers looked like a man among boys on the field. On one kickoff coverage drill, Geathers pancaked a player holding a blocking pad in front of him. It was Jonathan Thoma, the punter from Ohio State on a tryout. But Thoma is 200 pounds and Geathers knocked him down like a tackling dummy. If the Browns can harness Geathers' physical ability, he could be a gem in the sixth round.
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Tony Grossi's blog: Clifton Geathers dwarfs all the Browns rookies | cleveland.com
 
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Browns notebook: Jon Thoma welcomes more coaching at Browns camp
By Steve Doerschuk
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Apr 30, 2010

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Cantonrep.com / Bob Rossiter
Jon Thoma works out during the Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp in Berea.

BEREA ?

As a St. Thomas Aquinas High School senior in 2004, Jon Thoma joined the football team.

Who knew a sidelight to his soccer career would lead to a spot in the 2010 Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp?

?My friends would talk about the big leg I was known for in soccer,? Thoma said. ?Tim Tyrrell, the head football coach, asked me to go out for the team.

?I started working with Tom Futo, the kicking coach, and I improved pretty quickly.?

He averaged 41 yards per punt as an Aquinas senior, then found himself leaving soccer behind as football became a full-time sport at Ohio State.

Thoma was stuck behind an NFL prospect, A.J. Trapasso, until his senior year in Columbus. When he got his chance, he quickly made a mark in a September game against USC, pinning the Trojans inside the 20 on four of his six punts.

He had an ordinary punting average for the ?09 Buckeyes, 37.9 yards on 58 boots. He would have to convince the NFL that a steady diet of coaching would bring out the big potential in his leg.

The Browns saw enough promise to invite him to minicamp on a tryout basis. He harbors no visions of beating out veteran Dave Zastudil, but Zastudil has had injury troubles the last two years. Getting his foot in the door now might help Thoma down the road with the Browns.

He had a welcome-to-the-NFL moment Friday when he was knocked on his kiester by overzealous Round 6 pick Cliff Geathers. Asked if liked to see Geathers assert himself so rambunctiously, Head Coach Eric Mangini said, ?Not necessarily.?

Thoma is working with Brad Seely, one of the league?s most respected special teams coordinators. Seely was impressed by Thoma?s big leg when he attended Ohio State?s pro day workout.

?He helped me in a film session Thursday, then I got a lot of helpful pointers at practice,? Thoma said. ?It?s good to be coached again, because at Ohio State, there?s not really coaching in kicking-specific things.?

After minicamp, Thoma hopes to be added to the training camp roster. It could take years for him to actually make the Browns team, or another NFL squad.

How long will he give it a shot?

?It depends on how many chances I get,? he said as he grabbed his helmet before the afternoon practice.

?If they?re good chances and I?m just missing, maybe I?ll keep going. But ... I?ve got to pay the bills.?
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Browns notebook: Jon Thoma welcomes more coaching at Browns camp - Canton, OH - CantonRep.com
 
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Lived to tell about it

A day after being leveled by 6-foot-7, 330-pound rookie defensive lineman Cliff Geathers during light drills Friday, former Ohio State punter Jonathan Thoma described his memorable indoctrination into the NFL.

''We did similar drills at Ohio State where us specialists, the kickers, we'd hold the bag and they'd kind of come up and throw it away,'' said Thoma, a camp invitee. Apparently, not everyone does it that way.

''He just went straight through me. It's like if I would have gone up to a 10-year-old holding it. He is just so much bigger than me. I'm glad that pad was there.''
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Ohio.com - Rookie tackle lays out a hit -- on YouTube
 
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In Defense of My Coach

It is always sad to see a hero fall. It has happened to me a few times, and for a few different reasons. Mario Lemieux was taken from the game of hockey as he reached his prime to battle illness. Tiger Woods lived a double life and is now a shell of the man who used to make the world shake with the reverberating roars of galleries across America. Those were my sporting heroes.

Men who stood at the pinnacle of their respective professions and made a legitimate difference in people?s lives.

I thought that watching them lose their air of invincibility would be the hardest way to see a career end. I thought that I would never feel so hopeless again, because I would never be as young and impressionable as I was when I let these men become such a large part of my life. Then again, I thought Jim Tressel was invincible.

Cont...
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http://thomatimes.tumblr.com/
 
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