Watch De’Anthony Thomas touch a football in the open field just one time, and the gift is evident. It doesn’t matter how you get him the ball; it could be a reception, a punt return or a carry. But a few seconds later, you’re likely to have the same realization that dawned on Kenjon Barner the first time he saw the highly touted freshman.
“He’s fast,” Barner says. “That’s probably the first thing that went through my mind: He’s fast.”
Fast is an understatement. Two springs ago, while a junior at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, Thomas ran the 200 meters in a wind-aided 20.61 seconds, the fastest time by a prep athlete in the nation. Unlike his speedy predecessors at running back, Barner and LaMichael James, Thomas has no interest in representing the Ducks on the oval this spring. That doesn’t mean the three running backs won’t use Tracktown, USA, as a backdrop to form their own version of a relay team this fall, attempting to shift the Ducks already-supersonic offense into an entirely new gear.
Ahead of the curve

In a sense, Thomas’ skill set seems destined for Chip Kelly’s fleet-footed offense. Not only is the Crenshaw, Calif., native incredibly elusive and agile, but he’s also a quick learner with impeccable footwork. As a true freshman, Thomas picked up enough of the offense to get significant playing time against LSU in a critical game that was sure to define Oregon’s season in one way or another. Though Thomas suffered some highly publicized hiccups in his debut (including two third-quarter fumbles that doomed a Ducks comeback), the message was clear. Kelly trusted the 18-year-old enough to put the ball in his hands on the game’s biggest stage. According to Barner, the head coach has ample reason to feel secure.

“It doesn’t take too much to correct him; you tell him one thing one time and he does it. And he remembers it,” Barner says. “He pays extremely close attention to detail; he’s a different guy. He came here with the mind-set that he wanted to play and get on the field and help this team and that’s how he’s carried himself.”
Only three games into a promising career, Thomas is already entrenched as a major contributor in an Oregon backfield bursting with NFL-caliber talent. In his first game since the LSU debacle, he atoned for his mistakes, dazzling the Oregon faithful by piling up a game-high 204 all-purpose yards in his first game at Autzen Stadium against Nevada, including an ankle-breaking, highlight-reel 69-yard touchdown catch to go along with team-leading totals in rushing and receiving yards. Though Thomas’ current emergence seems inevitable for a five-star recruit, his future in Eugene wasn’t always so promising.
An unlikely union

Despite Thomas’ well-suited abilities, just a few short months ago a marriage with the Ducks seemed far from a match made in heaven. The running back had been a local legend growing up in Los Angeles since his Pop Warner days, and accordingly attracted serious attention from local powerhouse USC, whose campus is a short drive from Thomas’ high school and childhood home.
As the weeks ticked away toward signing day for college recruits in early 2011, Thomas’ future as a Trojan seemed inevitable. USC was perfectly positioned: Thomas had been verbally committed to the school for months without wavering, and the program seemed to be rebounding well from the NCAA sanctions it received as a result of improprieties during the Pete Carroll era.
To compound things, Oregon’s march to the BCS National Championship Game wasn’t attracting notice from Thomas. In reality, the Ducks weren’t even on his radar.
“To be honest, I didn’t really watch any of the Duck games throughout the whole season,” Thomas says. “I wasn’t really worried about any college; I was just worried about my high school team.”

Oregon burst onto to the scene late in the push for Thomas’ services, flying him to campus overnight in January. USC wanted him to come to the program as a defensive back, a position where he excelled at Crenshaw High; the Ducks promised Thomas a featured role in the backfield and a chance to get the ball in his hands as much as possible. Oregon running backs coach Gary Campbell said that getting Thomas to sign on was quite easy.
“I don’t think we did anything,” Campbell says. “I wish I could tell you I gave him some great line, or I laid out some great recruiting message to him or I showed him something really impressive. But he made the decision to come up and visit and he came up, visited, loved it and decided he was going to come.
“I wish they were all like that.”
The brotherly feeling Thomas sensed around his future teammates sealed his affection for Eugene.
“Everyone is just like a family here,” Thomas says. “I just got that vibe that I want to come to Oregon and be successful.”
Thomas made his future as a Duck public on Feb. 2, 2011, and those feelings have only intensified since the freshman has made a name for himself among supporters and opponents alike.
“We joke around all the time, even off the field, so I’m glad to be here,” Thomas says of his relationship with Barner and James. “You know, LaMichael, he’s a Heisman Trophy candidate, so it’s great to look at him in practice and just learn from him.”
Thomas’ more seasoned backfield mates are using more than three years of experience to make things easier on the former two-way star.
“If there’s anything we can help him with, anything on the field or off the field where we can make a correction because of a mistake that we’ve made, that’s how I’ve tried to be there for him,” Barner says. “The few mistakes that he’s made, I’ve made the same ones. Just being able to help him is a good thing. We all do. It’s a group thing; it’s a group effort. We all help out in our different ways. LaMichael helps out in his own way; I help out in my own way. We try to take him under our wings.”
The DoggFather and the Crenshaw days

Thomas first grabbed attention in the L.A. area as a Pop Warner sensation in the Snoop Youth Football League, a nonprofit, eight-team union run by rap legend Snoop Dogg in an effort to give inner-city youth an opportunity on the football field. After Snoop saw Thomas’ squad deliver a 56-0 beat down to another team, he went to the sideline and picked out the pint-sized blur he saw blazing through the opposing defense. Thomas quickly became acquainted with the Long Beach, Calif., native and remains in close contact with him to this day.
“Most of the time (Snoop) hit(s) me up after every game and just lets me know how I (did),” Thomas says. “That’s a great feeling, but I’m just doing it for him. I played in the Snoop Dogg League, so I’m repping the Snoop Dogg League and just putting on for the city of L.A.”
Did the attention from the international superstar ever make young Thomas a little nervous?
“After a time I got used to it. He’s just another family member to me,” Thomas says. “He’s like a godfather.”
Snoop Dogg is a professed USC loyalist, but the godson didn’t follow in his footsteps. When announcing his decision to leave Los Angeles, Thomas had an extremely emotional press conference in which he vowed to return to his neighborhood. He still feels a strong connection to his hometown; Thomas is a Duck, but he’ll never forget where he came from.
“My mom just told me to go experience life, and that’s what I’m doing,” Thomas says. “Experiencing a different atmosphere.”
He vows to return to Los Angeles as more than a visitor.
“Not just coaching but just helping out in the community,” Thomas says. “Just helping out others.”
The next chapter

People throughout the Oregon program are giddy about Thomas’ potential. Through three games, he has proven a threat in the running (7.7 yards per carry), passing (10 receptions for two touchdowns) and return game (27 yards per punt return). Barner sees Thomas as a self-starter who won’t let down once the Pac-12 season begins.
“De’Anthony is a different breed. It doesn’t take too much for him to get going,” Barner says. “You don’t have to motivate him. I haven’t seen him down at any point. LSU with the fumble — didn’t faze him. Came right back.”
Campbell agrees, but also feels it may take time for the teenager to get a grip on his new surroundings.
“Well, you know, he’s a freshman,” Campbell says. “In the meetings, he’s attentive. I don’t know if he understands all the time; there’s a lot for him to comprehend coming out of high school, coming into a Division-I program and getting the amount of information that we feed him. He does a pretty good job of picking it up and he’s got good football instincts.
“He doesn’t shy away from contact. He’s explosive for a smaller guy — I’d like to see him get a little bit bigger. But for now he’s shown that he can really get it up in there and he doesn’t mind doing that.”
One thing scouts and coaches agree on is that Thomas stands as a unique player in a long line of outstanding runners at Oregon.
“He’s not like anybody else we’ve had,” Campbell says. “Every guy I’ve coached here has been a different kind of guy. Just like with LaMichael; I don’t know anybody that we’ve had like him. I don’t know anybody we’ve had like Reuben Droughns. I don’t know anybody that we’ve had like LeGarrette Blount.
“I think he’s going to be one hell of a football player. He’s got great talent. If he can stay healthy and if he can hold up to the wear and tear of the Pac-12, he’s gonna be a very fine football player.”