Older, wiser Penn Hills grad Corey Thomas Jr. transfers to Virginia for final college season

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, December 17, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Football didn’t always go the way Penn Hills graduate Corey Thomas Jr. hoped it would during his time at Akron. The Zips didn’t win a lot of games.

Thomas was also asked to cycle between defensive line, linebacker and safety.

But when Thomas hit the transfer portal in the offseason, he carried with him versatility and experience dealing with adversity. Thomas was also a consistent performer in the classroom, earning All-Mid America Conference academic honors several times, allowing him to earn his degree in marketing before departing Akron.

He signed on to use his extra covid-19 pandemic year of eligibility at the University of Virginia.

“I would say it’s given me the versatility I have now,” Thomas said. “That’s one thing that Virginia likes about me. I played all over the field, and they were excited about my potential.”

Including Thomas’ 2019 redshirt season, Akron went 7-47 with three consecutive 2-10 seasons under coaches Tom Arth and Joe Moorhead.

Thomas’ new destination is also working on building back to prominence. Virginia hasn’t had a winning season since going 9-5 in 2019.

Second-year coach Tony Elliott led Virginia to a 3-9 season last year. Thomas said he is excited to get a fresh start and to try to help another program build back up.

“It was definitely difficult not getting as many wins as we wanted,” Thomas said. “Dealing with adversity has made me a better man. It taught me I had to battle and work for everything.”

Thomas had the best season of his career in 2023.

He finished with 51 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss while he was back playing at safety. Thomas also broke up a career-high three passes and recovered a fumble.

Having already earned his degree, Thomas took a week after the end of the season and decided to see what his options were.

“When I hit the portal, in the back of my mind, I was trying to go to a Power 5 school,” Thomas said. “That was the next step for me in my journey, and if I could get a chance to compete with those guys, I was going to go.”

Thomas is one of several Penn Hills players who have landed in the transfer portal over the past few seasons. Dante Cephas, who played with Thomas on the Indians’ 2018 championship season, also made the MAC to Power 5 transfer last season.

Cephas went from Kent State to Penn State. Jaden Dugger, who graduated from Penn Hills in 2022, played the past season at Georgetown but also announced he was hitting the portal to look for a new home.

Thomas said he reached out to Cephas for advice when he was going through the process last season. He’s also hoping to find his way to the field at Virginia like Cephas did at Penn State.

Cephas finished with 22 catches for 246 yards and two scores for the Nittany Lions.

“I’m a completely different player. I dealt with a lot of adversity at Akron,” Thomas said. “I went through position changes, losing and constantly being tested. I just wanted to stay true to my goal. I got better during my time playing at Akron.”

Tags: Penn Hills