Star Thomas is a running back who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Tennessee.
Thomas does a little of everything without one standout trait. Played for three head coaches across four seasons and three programs. First career honor, 2023: All-Conference USA. A game that shows it: 92 rushing yards and 7 receiving yards against Syracuse — Week 1, 2025.
Play style
Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.
Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape
Steady, not spectacular
Just 24.9% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 9.8% of his carries. 1 carry for 0 yds vs Vanderbilt; 12 for 92 vs Syracuse.
Counted from the play-by-play, so a carry or two can differ from the box score.
Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share
The closer
22.1% of carries overall (103/467) → 21.2% of Q4-with-lead carries (17/80) — 58.8% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.
Counted from the play-by-play, so a carry or two can differ from the box score.
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
9 of the team's 49 inside-the-5 carries (18.4%).
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tennessee | 104 | 596 | 5.7 | 7 | 52 |
| 2024 | Duke | 213 | 871 | 4.1 | 7 | 44 |
| 2023 | New Mexico State | 112 | 653 | 5.8 | 4 | 40 |
| 2022 | New Mexico State | 108 | 524 | 4.9 | 5 | 57 |
| Career | 537 | 2,644 | 4.9 | 23 | 57 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tennessee | 11 | 116 | 10.5 | 2 | 21 |
| 2024 | Duke | 20 | 153 | 7.7 | 1 | 29 |
| 2023 | New Mexico State | 22 | 200 | 9.1 | 2 | 21 |
| 2022 | New Mexico State | 12 | 151 | 12.6 | 3 | 44 |
| Career | 65 | 620 | 9.5 | 8 | 44 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 13 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-26vs Syracuse | 12 | 92 | 7.7 | 0 | 22 | |
| Wk 2 | W 72-17vs East Tennessee State | 12 | 69 | 5.8 | 3 | 19 | 3 rushing TDs |
| Wk 3 | L 41-44vs No. 6 Georgia | 9 | 60 | 6.7 | 0 | 27 | |
| Wk 4 | W 56-24vs UAB | 9 | 51 | 5.7 | 1 | 21 | |
| Wk 5 | W 41-34@ Mississippi State | 10 | 33 | 3.3 | 0 | 11 | |
| Wk 7 | W 34-31vs Arkansas | 10 | 23 | 2.3 | 0 | 9 | |
| Wk 8 | L 20-37@ No. 6 Alabama | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 0 | 19 | |
| Wk 9 | W 56-34@ Kentucky | 10 | 64 | 6.4 | 1 | 17 | |
| Wk 10 | L 27-33vs No. 18 Oklahoma | 5 | 10 | 2.0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Wk 12 | W 42-9vs New Mexico State | 5 | 30 | 6.0 | 1 | 21 | |
| Wk 13 | W 31-11@ Florida | 9 | 71 | 7.9 | 1 | 52 | |
| Wk 14 | L 24-45vs No. 12 Vanderbilt | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 28-30vs Illinois | 9 | 67 | 7.4 | 0 | 21 | |
| Total | 104 | 596 | 5.7 | 7 | 52 |
Week 2 · 2025
W 72-17
69 rush yds (12 car) · 3 TD
Dominant 55-point win at home against East Tennessee State.
With J. Aguilar — 288 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 74.4 · J. Merklinger — 118 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 89.8 · 17 rush yds (2 car)
The plays that mattered most
Rush profile · Shape, efficiency, and ball security
How he gets his yards, and how often it works
Success rate
48%93 carriesStuffed
0 or fewer ydsGrind
1–3 ydsChunk
4–9 ydsExplosive
10+ yds5.7 yds/carry on 104 carries · 16% explosive (10+ yds) · 48% success rate.
Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)
Yardage DNA
Stuffed (≤0)
Grind (1–3)
Chunk (4–9)
Explosive (10+)
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 34.7 | 4.1 | 0.7 |
| Road4g | 48.5 | 6.6 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 56.4 | 5.6 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 33.5 | 5.2 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Josh Heupel
Pass share
47.3%
437 pass / 486 run
Plays / game
71.0
13 games
Team sack rate
4.0%
449 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
About as many touches a game as a typical FBS running back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Unranked recruit. Now #66 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-SEC
Based on 2025: #11 of 37 SEC RBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 22% of returning players who ranked #11–20 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 19–25%).
Recruited without a star rating, and honored since.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 2ND TEAM
All-Conference USA 2nd team (2023)
Coaching lineage · 2022–2025
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 3 schools: Jerry Kill, Manny Diaz and Josh Heupel.
