Eric Thomas has unique insight.
As the high school football coach for Drew Lock at Lee’s Summit in Missouri, he can share what Lock was like in the infancy of his quarterback life.
Did Thomas know early on that the current Denver Broncos quarterback had “it?”
What did he see from Lock to let him know “yep, he’s the guy?”
And, of course, how he describes Lock’s personality.
On Friday’s Broncos Country Tonight, Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Allbright caught up with Thomas to find out what Lock was like.
“First, you start with the personality,” Thomas said. “And you guys have seen that firsthand. You just start with the type of character that he has and the confidence that he has.
“The first time I saw him was in eighth grade competing against a crosstown rival. Myself and our coaching staff went over to watch our eighth-grade team play. You could just tell then that he had a certain, I like to call it moxie or charisma about him, and you could see that on the field.”
It was at this point in his answer that Thomas shared a helluva story about Lock that offers some great insight into the type of player and quarterback he is.
“We always go to a team camp during the summer. And that summer going into his freshman year we chose to go to the University of Central Missouri here in Warrensburg, Missouri. We take a few incoming freshmen with us. Well, obviously, Drew was one of those who came with us.
“We get into a scrimmage — we get to scrimmage with other teams there. And we run a lot of RPO (run-pass-option) type stuff where he has options to throw the football. We give him some snaps with our first group at the end of a scrimmage, and we’re on the main field in front of everybody. We start going down the field.
“I’m calling the same play over and over and over but it has two or three different pass options. Well, he took the pass option all the way down the field and never handed the ball off. We get to the 3-yard line and I say, ‘Hey, we’re on the 3-yard line here. Know the situation. This is probably the spot you need to hand the ball off.’
“He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah. Coach, I got you, no problem. Yeah, we’ll hand the ball off — we’ll walk it in.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, go ahead.’ He throws a slant for a touchdown. You just knew early on ... and I just turned around and my coaches are looking at me going, ‘Huh, huh. You’re going to like this kid.’ He just had that confidence — even as a freshman coming into high school that he was in control and was going to do what he wanted to do.”
Bonus listen
Our Adam Malnati joined the guys to discuss which quarterback on their rookie contract he thinks is most likely to win a Super Bowl. They also ask Adam if he thinks Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon can put up gaudy numbers, the weapons Pat Shurmur has to work with and Lock settling in on this team.