ZACH THOMAS

'Zachary Michael Thomas' (born September 1, 1973, in Pampa, Texas) is an American football player for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League; Thomas is a linebacker, and has been with Miami for the eleven seasons he has been in the NFL. He has been selected to the Pro Bowl seven times, and has recorded over 1,500 tackles.

Contents

High school and college

College awards and honors

NFL

Awards and honors

Personal life

Notes and references

External Links

High school and college

He attended Pampa High School in Pampa, Texas where he was named first team All-state as a senior. At Texas Tech, he was a three-year starter as linebacker. He was a finalist for the Butkus Award, was the Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and was a consensus All-America in his junior and senior years. He recorded 390 tackles, including a career-high 131 tackles and a school-record 20 tackles against Missouri in his senior season. During the 1995 game against Texas A&M, Thomas returned an interception to gain a 14-7 win for Tech.^[1]
Zach and his older brother Bart were the first pair of brothers to be named first team All Southwest Conference in the same year. The brothers also were high school teammates at White Deer High School in White Deer, Texas; in 1988, Thomas' freshman year, the team went 16-0 and were class 1A state champs.

College awards and honors

★ Second-team ''Houston Chronicle'' All-SWC (1993)

★ Second-team ''Houston Post'' All-SWC (1993)

★ First-team UPI All-American (1994)

★ Second-team ''Football News'' All-American (1994)

★ Second-team ''Sporting News'' All-American (1994)

★ 2x SWC Defensive Player of the Year (1994, 1995)

★ Consensus All-American (1995)

★ First-team All-SWC (1995)

NFL

Thomas was drafted in the fifth round of the 1996 NFL Draft. Thomas led the Dolphins in tackles with 165 in 2005 after missing two games with ankle and shoulder injuries; he is also one of three players to record one hundred or more tackles in each of his first ten seasons in the NFL. Thomas was selected to his seventh Pro Bowl appearance in 2006, tied for the third most Pro Bowl appearances in club history; this is also the most of such selections among all defensive players in Dolphins history. He has also been selected First and Second Team All-Pro 7 times.

Awards and honors

In addition to being a seven-time All-Pro selection by the ''Associated Press'' and a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, Thomas earned the following awards and honors in his NFL career:

★ NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month (October 1996)

★ All-Rookie selection by ''College & Pro Football Newsweekly'', ''The Football News'', ''Pro Football Weekly'' and Pro Football Writers of America (1996)

★ AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year (1996)

★ Dolphins' 1996 Unsung Hero Award as selected by NFLPA

★ Dolphins MVP and Newcomer of the Year by South Florida media (1996)

★ Pro Bowl alternate (1996)

★ AFC Defensive Player of the Month (September 1998)

★ 2x NFL Alumni Association's Linebacker of the Year (1998, 2006)

★ First-team All-Pro selection by the ''USA Today'', ''College & Pro Football Newsweekly'' and ''Football Digest'' (1998)

★ 1998 All-Madden Team (1998)

★ 3x Dolphins' Leadership Award (1998, 1999, 2005)

★ Weeks 1 & 16 2001 AFC Defensive Player of the Week (2001)

★ Dolphins MVP by South Florida media and fans (2001)

★ All-Iron Team as selected by CBS analyst Phil Simms (2001)

★ PFWA Dolphins Chapter "Good Guy" Award (2001)

★ First-team ''Pro Football Weekly'' All-AFC (2002)

★ First-team ''Sports Illustrated'' All-Pro (2003)

★ Second-team ''Football Digest'' All-Pro (2003)

★ Week 14 AFC Defensive Player of the Week (2005)

★ All-AFC selection by ''Pro Football Weekly'' and the Pro Football Writers of America (2006)

Personal life

Thomas' agent is Drew Rosenhaus.
Thomas owns a health club run by his brother Bart Thomas in Amarillo, Texas, "Zach's Club 54".
Thomas is brother-in-law to teammate and fellow defensive captain Jason Taylor.
Thomas' father is millionaire Steve Thomas who constructed the largest cross in the Northern Hemisphere; this cross is located between Interstate 40 and old Route 66 west of Groom, Texas.
Zach Thomas was inducted into the Texas Tech Red Raiders Hall of Fame in 2006.

Notes and references

1. Greatest Tech athelete poll: Wes Welker and Zach Thomas profiles

External Links

Player page with stats at nfl.com