Houston athlete narrowing his list

Houston Aldine Nimitz athlete Michael Thomas has options and he's starting to narrow down his list this summer.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder has picked up several scholarship offers and has an early list of favorites. However, with a decision probably later rather than sooner, he's looking at several schools for visits coming up in the near future.

"Right now, I've got a top six," Thomas said. "It's Stanford, Boise State, Penn State, Cal, Northwestern, and Baylor in there. I love the tradition, the academic standards, and the fact that all of them have shown high interest in me not just with their recruiting coordinators but through their head coach as well. Stanford, Northwestern, and Baylor's head coach all came down.

"They make me feel like I'd be at home when I got there."

Thomas recently returned from a Baylor camp and visit. He also made a stop at the Oklahoma State camp. Next up is a trip to California to visit a pair of schools he's considering.

"I'm going to see Stanford and Cal," Thomas said. "I leave for California on (July) 18th. I like the approach from coach (Jim) Harbaugh and coach (Jeff) Tedford. I just want to get a feel for those schools after seeing it in person."

Thomas says that aside from his top five, he's also considering a few other schools that may also get official visits this fall.

"The thing is, I'm taking unofficial visits, so I'm trying to decide if I would use those again for official visits or check out some other schools I'm interested in," he said. "I have the top six that I'm evaluating hard. But, I'm also looking at Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri, Arizona, and Rice too."

Thomas says that he was sure he was going to make his decision on Signing Day, but he says that it could be sooner. As for which position he'll play at the next level, Thomas says he has several options.

"I'm still open," he said. "I'm leaning more towards the offensive side of the ball, but I want to see what each school says after evaluating me and they want to see where I fit best in each school's system. It's different for every school. A lot of them say return specialist or running back. I thought more would lean towards DB or receiver.

"A lot of them like Baylor, Penn State, and Stanford say running back. Stanford also says receiver."