How transfer RB Star Thomas got to Tennessee football thanks to former teammate Diego Pavia
Star Thomas didn't believe he could continue playing college football, not even after former teammate Diego Pavia celebrated the courtroom victory that made it possible.
Sitting in a chair amid reporters at Tennessee's indoor football facility, the Vols' newest running back admits he didn't expect to be here.
Advertisement
'I was shocked when I heard it. I didn't believe it at first,' Thomas said about an NCAA rule change that granted him an extra year of eligibility. 'I had to call around and get some facts on it.'
Thomas, who transferred from Duke to Tennessee in January, didn't say whether he called Pavia, Vanderbilt's quarterback. But that's a good bet.
They were teammates at New Mexico State in 2022-23. In December, Pavia challenged the NCAA's eligibility rules in federal court and won a preliminary injunction that granted him an extra year of college football because he started his career in junior college.
Five days later, the NCAA granted a blanket waiver for an additional year of eligibility to former junior college transfers. That included Thomas, who suddenly got a second chance at playing his final year of college football.
Advertisement
Thomas entered the transfer portal, took inquiries from interested schools and booked a flight to Knoxville.
'(Pavia's case and the NCAA rule change) helped me a lot,' Thomas said. 'So I was like, 'Why not?' I had to come back and try it again. Last season, I did alright. But I didn't have the season that I wanted to have (at Duke) to get me to that next level. I feel like I can do that here (at Tennessee).'
How Star Thomas got his unique name
Thomas has a flashy name but a humble spirit.
His first name is actually Star'Corius, which is a combination of his two uncles' names. Over time, it was shortened to Star.
Advertisement
Thomas said he knows some people see Star as a big name to live up to.
'But I never thought I had to,' said Thomas, shrugging his shoulders. 'It's just a name.'
That sums up why UT coaches wanted him on their roster. He's got a flashy game as a versatile runner and receiver but an unassuming demeanor.
'You saw a guy that was highly productive at his previous stops, an older guy that's played a lot of football, a guy that brings some maturity into the whole room,' running backs coach De'Rail Sims said. 'We were definitely looking for an older guy because we are still fairly young in that room. So he brought a ton of maturity, a ton of leadership.'
Thomas starred alongside Diego Pavia, then led Duke in rushing
Thomas will turn 24 years old in October, during his sixth college football season. He's been productive at every stop.
Advertisement
At Coffeyville Community College, he was just shy of 1,000 yards rushing.
At New Mexico State, he accounted for 1,529 yards from scrimmage and 14 TDs in two seasons, earning 2023 All-Conference USA honors. That's where he shared the spotlight with Pavia, the 2023 Conference USA Player of the Year.
AUBURN, ALABAMA - NOVEMBER 18: Running back Star Thomas #4 of the New Mexico State Aggies celebrates with quarterback Diego Pavia #10 of the New Mexico State Aggies after scoring a touchdown during the second half of their game against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium on November 18, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by)
Last season, Thomas led Duke in rushing with 871 yards and seven TDs. He also made 20 receptions for 153 yards and one TD.
Thomas could've arrived at Tennessee demanding respect from younger running backs. Instead, he showed it back to them.
'Those guys are pretty seasoned, and they've helped me with a lot of things,' Thomas said. 'We've got a great room. Everyone is eager to learn. There are no egos in there.'
Advertisement
Sophomore running back DeSean Bishop saw the addition of Thomas as a plus to the position.
'He's someone that's going to push me,' Bishop said. 'And it's good to have another older guy in the room. I'm glad to have him.'
Where Thomas fits in Tennessee running back competition
So there are good vibes in Tennessee's backfield.
But camaraderie alone won't replace the record-breaking production of Dylan Sampson, the 2024 SEC Offensive Player of the Year. He rushed for 1,491 yards and 22 TDs, both single-season school records, and then declared for the NFL Draft.
Bishop and Peyton Lewis, Sampson's backups, have the early lead in the backfield competition. Bishop rushed for 455 yards and three TDs last season. Lewis rushed for 339 yards and three TDs.
Advertisement
Freshman running backs Daune Morris and Justin Baker also debuted in spring practice as early enrollees.
Thomas appears to be somewhere in the middle of that mix with plenty of time before the 2025 season. He could challenge Bishop and Lewis for the starting spot. But it's just as likely that he plays well enough to claim one spot in a three-man rotation.
It's too early to tell because Thomas admits that he only recently turned the corner in spring practice. He had to learn UT's playbook, verbiage and signals. Then he had to adjust to the offense's fast tempo.
DESEAN BISHOP: How RB bet on himself from Tennessee walk-on to scholarship
Advertisement
Fortunately, he has experience making such a transition. This is his fourth football program in the past five years, so he's not overwhelmed.
'The hard part was at the beginning, but I'm way more comfortable now than the first practice,' Thomas said. 'I've always dreamed of playing SEC football, and this is a great opportunity for me to have a chance to play.'
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Star Thomas: Duke transfer got to Tennessee football thanks to Diego Pavia
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC Sports
an hour ago
- NBC Sports
Yankees at Royals Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for June 12
It's Thursday, June 12 and the Yankees (41-25) are in Kansas City to take on the Royals (34-34). Will Warren is slated to take the mound for New York against Seth Lugo for Kansas City. New York goes for the sweep today after winning the first two of the series against Kansas City, 10-2 and 6-3. The Yankees high powered offense has been led by Aaron Judge who homered in both games of the series. The Yankees have won five of the last six with Warren on the mound compared to the Royals who have dropped the past three with Lugo. Let's dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two. We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts. Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long. Game details & how to watch Yankees at Royals Date: Thursday, June 12, 2025 Time: 7:40PM EST Site: Kauffman Stadium City: Kansas City, MO Network/Streaming: YES, FDSNKC, MLBN Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out. Odds for the Yankees at the Royals The latest odds as of Thursday: Moneyline: Yankees (-147), Royals (+123) Spread: Yankees -1.5 Total: 9.0 runs Probable starting pitchers for Yankees at Royals Pitching matchup for June 12, 2025: Will Warren vs. Seth Lugo Yankees: Will Warren, (4-3, 5.34 ERA) Last outing: 5.1 Innings Pitched, 4 Earned Runs Allowed, 3 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 6 StrikeoutsRoyals: Seth Lugo, (3-5, 3.46 ERA) Last outing: 5.0 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 5 Hits Allowed, 2 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts Yankees: Will Warren, (4-3, 5.34 ERA) Last outing: 5.1 Innings Pitched, 4 Earned Runs Allowed, 3 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 6 Strikeouts Royals: Seth Lugo, (3-5, 3.46 ERA) Last outing: 5.0 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 5 Hits Allowed, 2 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type! Expert picks & predictions for tonight's game between the Yankees and the Royals 'Aaron Judge is currently hitting .394 and no Yankee has ever hit .400 let alone the last MLB player being Ted Williams in 1941. Judge is ripping this season and hitting .364 this month with nine hits through nine games. Judge hit .364 in May too, so he will need to step it up a little but a date with the Red Sox, Angels, Orioles, Reds, and Athletics over the next five series — I see a lot of hits coming for Judge, so I played the +1300 for .400 by the All-Star break and sprinkled +5500 for the season.' Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts. Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager. Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Thursday's game between the Yankees and the Royals: Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the New York Yankees on the Moneyline. Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Kansas City Royals at +1.5. Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 9.0. Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC. Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Yankees at Royals The Yankees have won 4 of their last 5 matchups against AL Central teams 7 of the Royals' last 8 games (88%) have gone over the Total The Yankees have covered the Run Line in 5 of their last 6 matchups against the Royals If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports! Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports) Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
2025 NBA mock draft: A consensus survey shows the latest predictions from experts
The 2025 NBA Draft is less than two weeks away and we are finally starting to get a consensus of when each player could hear their name called. To get a sense of where prospects stand as of right now, For The Win has surveyed all of the leading mock drafts to provide a general consensus. For this exercise, we're using my latest mock along with other mainstream mocks from the following publications (sorted alphabetically): Our scoring methodology was based on a trade value chart from ESPN's Kevin Pelton. Meanwhile, for more prospect coverage, here is our latest NBA mock draft at For The Win. Note: These rankings do not reflect our personal opinions or team fit but rather where experts currently have each prospect slated. The best takes and the sharpest bets on all the hoops storylines you need to know. Sign up for our Layup Lines newsletter, hitting your inbox on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 1. Cooper Flagg TEAM:Duke POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-9 DRAFT AGE: 18.5 2. Dylan Harper TEAM: Rutgers POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 19.3 3. Ace Bailey TEAM: Rutgers POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-10 DRAFT AGE: 18.9 4. V.J. Edgecombe TEAM: Baylor POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-5 DRAFT AGE: 19.9 5. Tre Johnson TEAM: Texas POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 19.3 6. Kon Knueppel TEAM: Duke POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-7 DRAFT AGE: 19.9 7. Jeremiah Fears TEAM: Oklahoma POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-4 DRAFT AGE: 18.7 8. Khaman Maluach TEAM: Duke POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 7-2 DRAFT AGE: 18.8 9. Derik Queen TEAM: Maryland POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 6-10 DRAFT AGE: 20.5 10. Egor Demin TEAM: BYU POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-9 DRAFT AGE: 19.3 11. Kasparas Jakučionis TEAM: Illinois POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 19.1 12. Noa Essengue TEAM: ratiopharm ulm (Germany) POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-8 DRAFT AGE: 18.5 13. Carter Bryant TEAM: Arizona POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-8 DRAFT AGE: 19.6 14. Collin Murray-Boyles TEAM: South Carolina POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 6-8 DRAFT AGE: 20.1 15. Nolan Traoré TEAM: Saint-Quentin (France) POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-3 DRAFT AGE: 19.1 16. Cedric Coward TEAM: Washington St. POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 21.8 17. Nique Clifford TEAM: Colorado St. POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 23.4 18. Jase Richardson TEAM: Michigan St. POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-3 DRAFT AGE: 19.7 19. Asa Newell TEAM: Georgia POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-11 DRAFT AGE: 19.7 20. Thomas Sorber TEAM: Georgetown POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 6-10 DRAFT AGE: 19.5 21. Liam McNeeley TEAM: Connecticut POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-7 DRAFT AGE: 19.7 22. Danny Wolf TEAM: Michigan POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 7-0 DRAFT AGE: 21.2 23. Joan Beringer TEAM: KK Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia) POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 6-11 DRAFT AGE: 18.6 24. Rasheer Fleming TEAM: Saint Joseph's POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-9 DRAFT AGE: 21.0 25. Will Riley TEAM: Illinois POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-8 DRAFT AGE: 19.3 26. Walter Clayton Jr. TEAM: Florida POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-3 DRAFT AGE: 22.3 27. Drake Powell TEAM: North Carolina POSITION: Wing HEIGHT: 6-6 DRAFT AGE: 19.8 28. Maxime Raynaud TEAM: Stanford POSITION: Big HEIGHT: 7-1 DRAFT AGE: 22.2 29. Noah Penda TEAM: Le Mans Sarthe (France) POSITION: Forward HEIGHT: 6-8 DRAFT AGE: 20.5 30. Ben Saraf TEAM: ratiopharm ulm (Germany) POSITION: Guard HEIGHT: 6-5 DRAFT AGE: 19.2 SECOND ROUND 31. Ryan Kalkbrenner 32. Hugo González 33. Adou Thiero 34. Yanic Konan Niederhäuser 35. Hansen Yang 36. Alex Toohey 37. Chaz Lanier 38. Bogoljub Marković 39. Kam Jones 40. Tyrese Proctor 41. Johni Broome 42. Koby Brea 43. Jamir Watkins 44. Javon Small 45. Hunter Sallis 46. Sion James 47. John Tonje 48. Eric Dixon 49. Rocco Zikarsky 50. Micah Peavy 51. Ryan Nembhard 52. Alijah Martin 53. Vlad Goldin 54. RJ Luis Jr. 55. Kobe Sanders 56. Tamar Bates 57. Payton Sandfort 58. Amari Williams 59. Brice Williams 60. Michael Ružić
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Schools Can Pay Their Athletes—and College Sports Will Never Be the Same
College sports are dying, college sports are dead, college sports aren't about college anymore—it's Christmas in June for anyone feeling apocalyptic about the state of college sports, now that a settlement has been approved allowing schools to directly pay their athletes. This isn't a salary, technically. This is compensation from schools to athletes for use of their 'name, image, likeness,' but it's not a measly NIL like a burly offensive lineman getting all the bratwurst he can eat. This is a real paycheck, directly from the college. It's really happening—for Division I schools that have opted in. It's set to start July 1. 'A new beginning,' NCAA boss Charlie Baker called it. Is it going to work? Will it cannonball Olympic and nonrevenue sports? How does it square with Title IX? Will it withstand legal challenges? Will it all fall apart? I have no idea! Neither does anyone else! Hold on to your helmets, everyone. We're all jumping off the diving board together. (I will now pause 90 seconds for you to climb the ladder and jump off the diving board with the rest of us.) The settlement of this class action—House vs. NCAA, in which current and former athletes sought name, image and likeness opportunities and a share of athletic department revenue—had been in the works for a while. On Friday, a federal judge signed off on the $2.6 billion settlement, which includes back pay to litigants but also creates a revenue-sharing system 'in which each Division I school will be able to distribute roughly $20 million a year to their athletes,' the Journal reported. That's right. Colleges can chop up $20 million and split it among their jocks. It will take some getting used to. Naturally, the revenue sharing is already provoking some to bemoan the demise of 'amateurism' and the college sports landscape. But schools have to be oblivious to not see who's to blame: They are! College sports did this to itself. The NCAA and its member schools set professionalization into motion with decades of arrogance and denial about the bountiful but warped economy they built around the games we love to watch. When college sports started chasing every dollar as a market-driven business—and frankly, there's a case that college sports has always been a business—paying athletes became inevitable. The bigger the money got, the harder the system was to defend. When college sports started indulging in the $10 million dollar coach, the billion-dollar television deal, the megabuck locker rooms and the assistant to the assistant strength coach making more than a surgeon, the hypocrisy was easy to see. Everyone was making a buck, except the talent on the field. It's why the Supreme Court more or less reacted to the NCAA's claims of amateur status with the following: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Public opinion shifted, too. A decade ago, I'd write about proposals to pay athletes and I could hear the jeering a mile away. Boooooooo! That's not what college sports are about, man! Eventually, those big-dollar media deals, private jets and Pop-Tart Bowls caught up with college sports. It was hard to argue there was anything amateurish about it anymore. Now schools will have to figure it out for themselves. I mean that literally: schools and conferences are navigating a new wilderness in which they are permitted to directly compensate athletes—but without a precedent or a clear road map. Yikes. We do know a few things: The bulk of those $20 million allotments are expected to go to high-revenue sports like football and men's basketball—that's where the money's coming from, after all. Other beneficiaries may be growing sports like women's basketball and softball. The settlement also attempts to inject some calm into the craziness around name, image and likeness. The revenue sharing payments will come from the schools, and third party NIL deals over $600 will be subject to review by 'NIL Go,' an oversight group overseen by Deloitte. The idea here is to put outside NIL deals under a microscope—find out what player deals are legitimate arrangements, and what are booster largesses masquerading as NIL. Good luck! Enforcement will be a headache. So will the invariable league challenges. Defenders of the settlement maintain it shouldn't be entangled with Title IX protections against gender discrimination. Already there are parties who want to argue. Also unknown is the impact on nonrevenue Olympic sports. Do schools start eliminating or rolling back certain sports because they're not big contributors to the bottom line? Possible! We'll see. The new setup isn't free of denial, either. While colleges are now entitled to pay athletes, the system still resists the idea that athletes are employees. Good luck with that, too. There will likely be challenges to the revenue sharing system—is the proportion of revenue (22 percent) given to athletes a fair amount, or should it be renegotiated? Is it tantamount to a salary cap? It's hard to not see this heading in the direction of classifying athletes as employees, and eventually, collective bargaining. If you're lying down on a couch right now with a bag of ice on your head, I understand. It's a lot. It's confusing. Imagine being an athletic director in 2025. No job has changed more. A new day is here. It might not be the apocalypse, but college sports will never be the same. Write to Jason Gay at
