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Browns pick Jamari Thrash 'not messing around' with NFL chance, Louisville WR coach says
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- Browns pick Jamari Thrash 'not messing around' with NFL chance, Louisville WR coach says
Garrick McGee hadn't met Jamari Thrash before the University of Louisville wide receivers coach recruited him out of the transfer portal from Georgia State after the 2022 season.
However, it didn't take long for McGee to notice something that set the then-22-year-old wide receiver apart.
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"Well, I don't like comparing my kids," McGee told the Beacon Journal in a phone interview Wednesday, "but he's just a very mature kid that knew exactly what he wanted and he was willing to work to get it and no one could influence him at all. He was his own person."
McGee was only able to coach Thrash one year with the Cardinals. He had already played four seasons at Georgia State — with 104 catches, 1,752 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns there — by the time he got to Louisville to use his final year of eligibility.
That one year, though, was more than enough time for Thrash — whom the Cleveland Browns selected in the fifth round (No. 156 overall) of the NFL draft last Saturday — to leave an impression beyond just the 63 catches for 858 yards and six touchdowns he had for the 10-4 Cardinals. Actually, it might have taken significantly less than a year to do so.
"Oh, no, no, no," McGee said. "The first day on campus, not only myself but the academic people — he's really interested in getting his degree — the strength and conditioning coach, the athletic trainers. I mean, he made immediate impact, the secretaries, on everybody that this guy's different, that he's really on a mission here. He's not messing around. So he made an impact on everybody as soon as he walked in the building."
Louisville Cardinals wide receiver Jamari Thrash give a thumbs up during Louisville football's Pro Day Tuesday morning. March 26, 2024
It's about carrying that mindset into the next adjustment phase of Thrash's career. Initially, there was the jump from high school to college at Georgia State, then the jump in levels from the Sun Belt Conference school to the ACC school in Louisville.
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Now comes the biggest jump of all, from the college ranks to the NFL ranks, especially coming in as a day-three draft pick. McGee, whose nearly 30-year coaching career includes two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars , said there's something about Thrash's attitude that will help him with that transition
"Well, it's going to benefit him a lot because he's not an immature kid," McGee said. "Sometimes kids get to the pros, they're immature. … The maturity level, when you walk into a locker room and it's grown men, and you may be a kid that's really fast and really good, but you're immature, that sets people back. This kid is going to study. He knows what's important. He's not going to be one of these guys that's out partying and doing all this mess. He's really going to be focused on making the team and helping the team win."
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Thrash may have given some insight into that mindset on the day he was drafted while speaking with media covering the Browns. During that teleconference, he was asked about playing — or a relative lack of playing — special teams, which was listed by some draft analysts as a knock against him.
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The first thing Thrash did was set the record straight a bit by pointing out his role as a gunner on Louisville's punt team, as well as having returned punts in high school in LaGrange, Ga. After that, however, he left no doubt about his feeling about playing special teams with the Browns.
Louisville football WR coach Garrick McGee conducts spring practice at the Trager practice facility in Louisville, Ky. on Mar. 19, 2024
"Yeah, special teams is something that I'm definitely willing to do," Thrash said. "That's something — it doesn't matter if I'm willing to do it or not, you know, I don't have a choice. Yeah, that's my whole mindset when it comes to it … you know, I don't mind doing special teams."
The least-surprised person to hear about those comments was McGee. In fact, the only thing that would have surprised him was if Thrash had actually gone the other way and dismissed the idea of playing special teams.
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"That doesn't surprise me that he said that because, one, that's how he's built," McGee said. "He is a real football player. He's not a prima donna receiver. He will mix it up, he'll run down and make tackles.
"He'll do his job on special teams, and nowadays college coaches are preaching that if you're not going to be a first- or second-round pick, you better be a special teams player and you better embrace being a special teams player. There's no doubt he's going to embrace that and be all into it."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns draft pick Jamari Thrash earns praise from Louisville WR coach
