Xavier Thomas Hears His Name Called

Former Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas was selected with the No. 138 pick in the 5th round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.

Thomas stayed healthy in 2023 and once again showed what he can do, racking up a team-high 21 quarterback pressures to go with 28 tackles (4.0 for loss), three sacks, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery over 12 games (11 starts).

Thomas earned first-team freshman All-American honors in 2018 before following that up with a third-team All-ACC campaign in 2019. He initially intended to play only four games in 2020 and redshirt after complications with COVID-19 and strep throat, but ended up playing seven games upon the NCAA’s blanket eligibility waiver for 2020.

After collecting another third-team all-conference selection in 2021, Thomas suffered a foot injury in fall camp and was limited by the injury to three games in 2022 before returning to finish his Clemson career in strong fashion this past season.

Thomas was credited with 133 tackles (34.0 for loss), nine pass breakups, six forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries across 61 career games (30 starts). He exited Clemson as one of nine players in school history — one of seven non-specialists and one of four defensive players — to play in 60 career games for the Tigers.

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