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Tennessee tailback Star Thomas delivers in football and as father

On3 imageby: Austin Price09/09/25AustinPriceless
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Saturday was a special day for Vol running back Star Thomas. It marked his first game at Neyland Stadium and not only did he find the checkerboards, but he did so three times.

“It was great,” Thomas said. “It was highly anticipated how everybody said it was going to be. I love like they’re running through that power T, seeing all them fans out there. That’s something I had been dreaming about since I was a kid, especially knowing the tradition of Tennessee football and knowing the ins and outs of how Tennessee go about things. That right there was like greats going in that stadium playing.”

As good as Saturday might have been, Sunday was even better. A whirlwind day saw Thomas go down and back to Louisiana for his daughter, Skylyn Thomas’, first birthday party.

“It was great,” Thomas said. “It was something that I had talked to Coach Heup about last Sunday after the Syracuse game. He was good with it. And I just wanted to cause when she was born, I was there for like the first 10 hours, and I had to go back to Duke and go play a game that Thursday. And so, I didn’t want to miss her very first birthday because that’s something that she probably won’t remember, but that’s something that I just wanted to have on my heart and be there for her.”

Dad duty called on Sunday for Thomas.

That was her party as Tuesday actually marks her first birthday. So what did he get her?

“I had bought a Lamborghini car, a remote control car that I think she gonna like a lot. And I brought some Tennessee gear home for her to have. I took her the shirt that I had wore to the game for her birthday.”

The opportunity to see her smile made the extra effort worth every second.

“It’s great,” Thomas said. “I mean, I try to balance both of them together, but it’s kind of hard because I’ve been missing so much time with her. So when I do get the time to try to spend with her, I try to cherish that a lot with her.”

The time at home passed by like a blink. As quickly as he had arrived, he was back on a plane headed back for Rocky Top with a memory or two stored for a lifetime.,

“It meant a lot to me because like I said, it’s hard to balance time with her and football and me being up here and her being in Louisiana. So the little four to eight hours I had with her, I cherish those a lot.

“First when I got there, she had jumped up because she didn’t see me. She was just like, da-da. So we got there, got in the bed together, took a nap, and then we went to her party and we were just eating cake and stuff the whole day.”

Thomas has been plug and play this fall.

Thomas sits inside the top ten in the conference in rushing through two games. He has been smooth and shifty in showcasing a veteran’s approach. This weekend he will go against perennial power Georgia with Skylyn in attendance. Whether she’s in attendance or not, Skylyn is never far from Thomas’ mind.

“I always write her name on my wrist, but I try to put them, on my cleats so if I get tackled or something, I look down, and remember this who I’m doing it for,” Thomas said.

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