ESPN is reporting that former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas, who was expected to start at left guard, will need surgery to repair a torn quad and he is expected to be sidelined for the entire 2014 season. The Colts made it official when Thomas was placed on injured reserve.

Thomas suffered the same injury in the second game of the 2013 season and missed the rest of the season. He was injured during Wednesday's practice and reports said that Thomas was understandably emotional as he left the practice field.

As for this year's UConn team, the official point spreads for the opening week games were posted on Phil Steele's blog and UConn is a 17-point underdog to BYU. Only five other visiting teams are favored by more points than the Cougars as Alabama (a 27-point favorite at West Virginia), Marshall (plus 24 at Miami of Ohio), UCLA (plus 23.5 at Virginia) top the list while Florida State and Ohio State are 17.5-point favorites at Oklahoma State and Navy respectively.

Former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas suffered a torn right quad in Sunday's loss to Miami and will miss the remainder of the season according to multiple reports.

Thomas, signed as a free agent by the Indianapolis Colts, started the first two games of the season. Thomas began his career with Miami and played 17 games with 13 starts during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He played for the New England Patriots during the last two seasons, playing all 16 games with seven starting assignments during the 2012 season.

Thomas had an amazing journey to the NFL which was documented by the late great Register columnist Dave Solomon back in a 2009 column as Thomas did not play high school varsity  football but worked his way onto the UConn team, began a sixth-round pick of the Dolphins in the 2008 NFL draft and signed a four-year, $14 million contract with the Colts earlier this year.

It's been a pretty lucrative offseason for some former UConn stars and other state products.

                                                                                       (Associated Press photo)
Former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas will go from protecting
future Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady to doing the same for Andrew Luck

Robert McClain earned a bonus of $269,000 for his play with the Atlanta Falcons while Darius Butler was re-signed by Indianapolis.

Former Norwich Free Academy star Matt Shaughnessy and Windsor's Terrance Knighton signed with Arizona and Denver respectively. Shaughnessy signed for one year and Knighton for two years so bigger pay days could be ahead.

However, nobody did better for themselves during this free-agency period than former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas.

Thomas, signed a four year contract with $14 million with Indianapolis. It's been quite the ride for Thomas who did not appear in a game in the NFL during the 2010 season and started just one game with the New England Patriots in 2011. However, Thomas opened some eyes with his solid play when injuries led him to start seven games with the New England Patriots last season. Register columnist Chip Malafronte, my predecessor at the UConn football beat writer, spoke to Thomas for his Sunday column.

"It was all a new situation for me. I’ve never been that guy before,” Thomas said  “I feel blessed.

"I was given an opportunity this year and I capitalized on it. I knew I could still play, I just needed a genuine shot. New England gave me that shot. It was a battle for me in training camp just to make the roster.”

Thomas becomes the latest former Husky to join the Colts as Donald Brown, Butler and Scott Lutrus are other former UConn stars on the Colts' active roster. Fellow UConn products Greg Lloyd and Kashif Moore also spent time with the Colts in 2012. Lloyd was acquired in a trade with Philadelphia but did not make the opening-day roster while Moore was picked up by the Colts after Moore was cut by Cincinnati and spent time on the Colts practice squad.

I reached out to the Colts in September thinking that all the former Huskies being signed by the team would make an interesting story and/or blog but the only response I got was "I have not responded to this. Thanks."

Darius Butler is the first of the three former UConn players to have a chance of seeing action in the NFL playoffs when the Indianapolis Colts play at Baltimore tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Butler, a cornerback, was originally drafted by the New England Patriots in 2009. After playing two seasons with the Patriots, he spent last year with the Carolina Panthers before being let go on Aug. 31. Butler was signed by Indianapolis on Sep. 25 and played 11 games for the Colts. Butler has 31 tackles and four interceptions for the Colts. Indianapolis also has two former Huskies on injured reserve. Running back Donald Brown ran for 417 yards in 10 games while linebacker Scott Lutrus was put on the IR in the preseason. Former UConn stars Kashif Moore and Greg Lloyd also spent time on Indianapolis' practice squad this season.

The other two UConn products on playoff teams will have to wait a week to get onto the field.

Donald Thomas, an offensive guard who played in all 16 games and started seven games, is another player who benefited from a change of scenery. Thomas started 13 games during the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He is in his second season with the Patriots and played a key role in allowing the Patriots to overcome a string of injuries on the offensive line. The Patriots are the second seed in the AFC and will host the highest remaining seed which emerges from this weekend's action on Jan. 13.

Cornerback Robert McClain of the Atlanta Falcons has been one of the biggest surprises of the NFL season. Like Thomas and Butler, he was given an opportunity to play due to injuries to established players.

McClain, who played 16 games for the Carolina Panthers in 2010, was an under the radar offseason signing by the Falcons and he has 61 tackles and an interception this season for Atlanta.

The Falcons are the top seed in the NFC and will host the lowest remaining NFC seed on Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.

Here is a breakdown on how the other UConn products fared this season (not including players on practice squads):

OT Will Beatty, New York Giants: Played 16 games and had 15 starts for Giants
S Tyvon Branch, Oakland: Had 94 tackles and an interception while starting 14 games
WR Marcus Easley: Did not have a reception in three games although he did return two kickoffs for 75 yards
QB Dan Orlovsky, Tampa Bay: Was 4 of 7 for 41 yards in 41-0 loss to New Orleans in only appearance
DT Kendall Reyes, San Diego: Had 28 tackles in 16 games and 3.5 of his 5.5 sacks came in win over New York Jets.
FB Anthony Sherman, Arizona: Played 13 games with four starts. Had no carries but had five receptions for 39 yards
RB Jordan Todman, Jacksonville: Had three rushes for eight yards and one catch for no yards in only game against New York Jets

Former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas will join his New England Patriots teammates Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker in tomorrow's episode of SportsNation.

The Patriots team, called Team Gronk, will face a New York Giants trio captained by receiver Victor Cruz in something called the "Halo 4" Bowl.

Thomas has appeared in all eight games including four starts this season for the Patriots this season.

For those interested, you can tune in tomorrow at 5 p.m. to ESPN2.

Thanks to the blog on the New England Patriots official website here are some thoughts from former UConn offensive lineman Donald Thomas regarding the retirement of UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun and the promotion of Kevin Ollie to head coach.

Here's the portion of the blog featuring Thomas' quotes


“Wow!” said a stunned Thomas, who grew up in New Haven. “As long as I’ve been a kid growing up in Connecticut, it’s been Calhoun and (UConn women's basketball coach Geno) Auriemma. I mean, that’s going to be a big blow for UConn, UConn’s family, the whole state of Connecticut. You know, he’s had a lot of health issues lately. You don’t want to see the guy suffer. Every year, it’s something new.

“He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to make the best decision for himself… we’ll see what happens with the program, how they rebuild. Whoever steps up has some big shoes to fill.”

Regarding Ollie's promotion Thomas said “Oh, well, I kind of figured that, too, when they brought him in to groom him. So, it shouldn’t be too much of a drop-off. He’s going to bring some more young energy to it. It might even be a more exciting basketball team to watch. You never know.”

Just a quick recap of how former UConn stars fared in exhibition games on Thursday night

WR Marcus Easley, Buffalo: Had one catch for 12 yards in 7-6 loss to Washington
DB Robert McClain, Atlanta: Tied for team lead with five solo tackles and six overall tackles and had an interception in 31-17 loss to Baltimore
DT Kendall Reyes, San Diego: Had four total tackles and 1/2 a sack in 21-13 win over Green Bay
OG Donald Thomas, New England: Got start at LG in 7-6 win over New Orleans
LB Lawrence Wilson, New Orleans: Had four total tackles in 7-6 loss to New England.

There will be six more preseason games on Friday although there are reports that former Huskies Will Beatty (New York Giants OT) and Jordan Todman (Minnesota Vikings RB) will be held out because of back and ankle injuries respectively.

In the Canadian Football League Larry Taylor returned eight punts for 88 yards, had 85 yards on four kickoff returns and ran once for 13 yards in Calgary's 31-20 win over Hamilton. Taylor added to his league league in combined return yardage. He has 1,228 yards between kickoff, punt and missed field goal returns and no other CFL player has hit the 1,000-yard mark.