Jacob Thomas is a safety who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at James Madison.
Thomas hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. The four seasons at James Madison span three head coaches: Curt Cignetti, Damian Wroblewski and Bob Chesney. All-Sun Belt in 2025 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 8 tackles against Washington State — Week 13, 2025.
Play style
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
65 tackles. 7 passes defended. 2 interceptions. 3 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | James Madison | 65 | 29 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 7 | 2 |
| 2024 | James Madison | 73 | 34 | 7.5 | 0.5 | 3 | 3 |
| 2023 | James Madison | 54 | 29 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6 | -- |
| 2022 | James Madison | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 194 | 94 | 11.5 | 2.5 | 16 | 5 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-10vs Weber State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-28@ Louisville | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 4 | W 31-13@ Liberty | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 35-10vs Georgia Southern | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | W 14-7@ Georgia State | 8 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 7 | W 24-14vs Louisiana | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | W 63-27vs Old Dominion | 7 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 35-23@ Marshall | 7 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 58-10vs App State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 24-20vs Washington State | 8 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 59-10@ Coastal Carolina | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 15 | W 31-14vs Troy | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Bowl | L 34-51@ No. 5 Oregon | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 65 | 29 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 2 | 7 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
11%7 pass breakupsInterceptions
2interceptionsTackle volume
65tackles this seasonTFL rate
5%3 TFL65 tackles · 3 for loss · 2 sacks · 7 pass breakups · 2 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 3.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Road6g | 6.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 4.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 5.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bob Chesney
Pass share
39.7%
385 pass / 584 run
Plays / game
69.2
14 games
Team sack rate
5.8%
360 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2025
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Unranked recruit. Now #46 at the position.
2026 outlook
In the mix to repeat All-Sun Belt
Based on 2025: #4 of 42 Sun Belt Ss
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-SUN BELT · 2ND TEAM
All-Sun Belt 2nd team (2025)
Coaching lineage · 2022–2025
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Curt Cignetti → Bob Chesney. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
