Thomas attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for coach Mack Brown's Texas Longhorns football team from 2007 to 2009.
Thomas subsequently earned multiple All-Freshman honors, as he was named to FWAA′s Freshman All-America team,[REF] Sporting News′ Freshman All-American team,[REF] College Football News′ All-Freshman first team,[REF] and Rivals.com′s