It’s impossible to watch a West Virginia game this season and not take note of the high level at which J.T. Thomas (III) is playing this season. He leads the team in tackles, tackles for a loss and pass break-ups and has to be elbow-deep in some sort of espionage.

How else do we explain the repeated incidents in which we find him in the opponent’s backfield?

Granted, he’s on the field a lot. The junior with good genes starts at weak side linebacker and doesn’t leave the field on third down. He usually slides over to the strong side and has been playing the middle with Reed Williams out.

In short, every game has the potential to be a big game when you play the way he plays, but he’s had this Colorado game on his mind for a while now. Thomas lasted all of two snaps in last year’s game before getting buffaloed by fullback Maurice Cantrell.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate.

The film had another secret, too. Thomas figured it must have been a big hit to have that big of an effect.

“The thing that surprised me the most was I get into head-on collisions all the time with fullbacks and linemen,” he said. “Watching the film, it was more like a love tap and I was asleep. I couldn’t understand how that happened.”