#15 Walter Neil Jr. — JUCO product Dante Thomas will be the first K-State safety to wear No. 15 since walk-on Walter Neil Jr. (15) back during the transition from Snyder 2.0 to Klieman. | Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In which BracketCat counts down the 15th day until the 2023 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State safety Dante Thomas.

Goal No. 15: LEADERSHIP. Everyone can set the example.

#15 Dante Thomas

Redshirt Junior | 5-11 | 188 lbs. | Hammond, Louisiana

Position: Safety
Previous Colleges: Northwestern State University; Southwest Mississippi Community College
Projection: Second-String*
Status: On Scholarship

Dante “Strap” Thomas (b. Aug. 14, 2004) is a transfer safety from Southwest Mississippi Community College who is in majoring in psychology and has three more years to play.

Thomas enrolled back in January and was able to participate in spring practices, but his name hasn’t come up much in the fall so I look for him to be more a depth piece this year.

(*Note: I originally had him running second-string over Wesley Fair but the coaches are talking up Fair more now, so if I had this to do over again, I would definitely switch them.)

Thomas prepped under head coach JT Curtis at John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, Louisiana, where he helped to lead the Patriots to a 51-5 record during his prep career.

He totaled 55 tackles and six interceptions as a senior, while he had 65 tackles and five picks as a junior as he helped to lead the Patriots to a 14-0 record and a state title.

Thomas also competed in track and field in high school.

He played as a true freshman for Northwestern State against Sam Houston in the pandemic-delayed spring season of 2021, registering two tackles, including half a tackle for loss. Since this was during COVID, he will have an additional year of eligibility available if he wants it.

In the fall of 2021, Thomas played in just three games as a true sophomore, including the season opener at North Texas in which he carded a tackle for loss, but his year was cut short by injuries and he was awarded a medical redshirt.

He finally broke through a bit as a redshirt sophomore in 2022, seeing action in 11 games with four starts and totaling 18 tackles, an interception, and five total passes defended.

Thomas had a career-high five tackles against Houston Christian, a game in which he recorded his first career interception.

He broke up a career-high three passes against Southeastern Louisiana, and also broke up passes against Houston Christian and SEMO, while he had three tackles apiece against both Southern Miss and Southeastern Louisiana.

Nevertheless, in a somewhat odd move after completing three years at a Division I university, Thomas elected to jump down a level to a junior college for the 2023 season.

He played under head coach Cliff Collins at Southwest Mississippi, he was regarded as the 11th-best overall community college prospect for the Class of 2024 by On3.

Thomas was rated as a cornerback by On3, which also placed him No. 3 among all community college players at that position for the Class of 2024. He was rated No. 41 among community college transfers and No. 4 among safeties by 247Sports.

Thomas earned all-conference honors after collecting 43 tackles, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for the Bears.

He had a season-high eight tackles against Mississippi Gulf Coast and seven tackles at Hinds, the latter game in which he forced and recovered a fumble, and he also broke up two passes at Mississippi Delta and once apiece against both East Central and Holmes.

Thomas committed to K-State over a wide range of G5/FCS offers from Akron, Alcorn State, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Grambling State, Jackson State, McNeese State, New Mexico, Old Dominion, Prairie View A&M, Southern, Stephen F. Austin, Toledo, Troy and UAB, as well as interest from Ole Miss.

His primary recruiter was his new position coach, defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman.

Out of high school back in 2020, Thomas picked Northwestern State over offers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Southeastern Louisiana and UNLV, as well as interest from Colorado, Colorado State, South Alabama and UTSA.

Rivals projected Thomas to be one of the most physical players on our roster this season:

His best ability is his aggressiveness. There are plenty of plays where Thomas delivers a punishing blow to an offensive player, adding an extra aspect to Kansas State’s defense.