Former Temple EDGE Tra Thomas Signs his NLI to Play for NC State

Today is National Signing Day for the 2025 Football Recruiting Class. Back on December 6th, NC State signed 17 players on the Early National Signing Day.

Former Temple EDGE Tra Thomas (6’4″/230) signed his National Letter of Intent to play football for NC State today. He announced his plans to transfer to NC State on January 6th after taking an Official Visit. The Wolfpack offered him on December 28th.

Welcome to Raleigh, @tragod23 #1Pack1Goal pic.twitter.com/EJcp0NlmIf

— NC State Football (@PackFootball) February 5, 2025

Thomas was a 3-Star prospect in the Transfer Portal this offseason.

Thomas started his career playing Linebacker at Independence Community College in 2021, recording 39 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and 1 interception.

He transferred to Temple in 2022. 247Sports ranked Thomas as the #27 overall JUCO player in the 2022 class, and the #4 EDGE.

In his 1st season with the Owls, Thomas racked up 14 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in 4 games at Outside Linebacker, but suffered a season ending injury, which resulted in a redshirt season.

In 2023, the Owls shifted Thomas to Defensive End, starting in 9 of the 12 games. He finished the year with 30 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks.

This season, Thomas was Temple’s starter at the JACK position, which is a hybrid between Defensive End and Outside Linebacker. He started all 12 games, and recorded 28 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception and 1 forced fumble. Thomas’ PFF grade was 68.8, which was the 7th highest grade on Temple’s defense (350+ snaps).

Thomas told me that NC State is recruiting him as a Linebacker/Rusher.

Currently, Thomas has 1 year of eligibility remaining, but depending on how things shake out with the JUCO/NCAA court case, he could possibly have 2.

Thomas is familiar with NC State’s new Defensive Coordinator DJ Eliot, who served in that role at Temple in 2022. Considering that Eliot is likely to run some sort of 3-4 defensive scheme, Thomas looks to be a perfect pass rusher in NC State’s defense in 2025.