After just one month of the basketball season, one of Texas A&M’s prized 2015 signees is on his way out of College Station. Freshman Elijah Thomas informed the Aggies of his decision on Tuesday, in news broken by ESPN.
Thomas chose Texas A&M over Illinois, SMU, LSU, and Oklahoma State as a top-50 ranked prospect a year ago coming out of the Dallas area.
Through the first week of the season, Thomas showed an ability to affect the game in limited minutes, averaging seven points and four rebounds in just under 16 minutes in the team’s first four games of the year. From there, though, head coach Billy Kennedy seemed to find his favor somewhere else on the roster, as Thomas’ playing time plunged. Thomas didn’t play more than seven minutes in the past six games, sitting out the entirety of two games.
The 8-2 Aggies are ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll and, despite Thomas’ talent, look to be in good hands going forward.
Freshman Tyler Davis has proven to be the featured big man that Kennedy was hoping for, averaging 11.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Fellow freshmen Admon Gilder and DJ Hogg have settled into their roles as well–at just under 20 minutes per game, each–averaging 8.1 and 7.5 points per game, respectively.
Per NCAA transfer restrictions, Thomas will have to sit out one full year after picking his new program, meaning that he will be eligible in January of 2017. Word has yet to be released by his camp about which programs might be interested in his services.
