Within the storm, there is a thunderous voice that rises above all the pandemonium.
“Yes sir, yes sir!” he shouts. “Here we go, boys, here we go.”
He screams it over and over, to the point where you either want to run through a brick wall or tell him to shut up.
The voice belongs to senior big man Corey Thomas and embodies the growth he’s experienced since joining Bradley 18 months ago.
“There’s rah-rah leading, and there’s meaningful talk leading, and I think he does both for us,” head coach Brian Wardle said. “I think that’s where he really learned. He was a good talker last year in practice, but he’s learned how to have meaningful talks on the court and meaningful talks in the huddles. When I say “meaningful,” I mean talking basketball. It’s stuff that can help his teammates, so that’s going to be very helpful.”
It’s the type of leadership necessary for a team that lost four players — Duke Deen, Darius Hannah, Zek Montgomery and Christian Davis — that helped build the team’s culture and continuity over the last four seasons.
“My leadership has definitely grown a lot,” Thomas said. “We got a lot of new young guys on the team who didn’t really know what Bradley was like when they first got here. Just being here for a year and knowing what I’m heading into gives me the confidence to be a leader. Being able to let the guys know what the coach likes and doesn’t like has helped me become a better overall leader on the court.”
“I’m already a talker,” Thomas continued. “I already don’t know when to shut up. So it’s been a pretty easy transition to use my voice to help my guys. Ultimately, that’s all I want to do.”
His teammates described Thomas as a great leader who is mature beyond his years, uplifting and supportive, but these qualities were formed long before Bradley.
Curating Corey
Thomas grew up in Buford, Georgia, with basketball in his blood. His mother and father both played at the junior college level, and his sister, 20 years his senior, spent seven years in the WNBA and played for the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky.
“My sister and I were the only two kids in our family,” Thomas said. “I was on planes going to watch her play games since I was two years old and had already been in basketball and been around it all my life. She was the reason I wanted to go into basketball. I saw what she was doing. I saw how she handled herself and the things she got to do. That made me want to enjoy the process that she went through.”
The forward grew up in an old-school household with older parents, which made him an old soul and helped him grow up faster.
“I always say my parents raised me like I was in the ‘80s,” Thomas said. “Like, I listened to old school music when I was a kid, walking around the house. That’s what my parents were playing on the radio and stuff. And I mean, I don’t want to say that people were hardworking back then, but I just feel like those hard-nosed and fundamental tough qualities that they had when they were growing up, they wanted to instill them in me, and the only way they knew to do that was the way they were raised.”
By the time he reached his junior year of high school, Thomas had interest from multiple Division I and Division II schools.
Then five games into the season, disaster struck.
He broke his leg.
“I had schools reaching out, it was supposed to be a decent year for me,” Thomas said. “I had a couple of big games in the first five games we had, and so people started to take notice. Then, after it happened, they told me that they didn’t really want to move forward.”
“It helped transform me into the person I am today,” Thomas said about the injury. “Not so much the basketball player I am, but the person I am. Once basketball is taken away from you, you have to find yourself outside of it, especially if all you know is basketball. It made me figure out how I wanted to live my life outside of basketball. It made me a more mature person than beforehand, and I think that helped my basketball game more than anything, as I grew up.”
Thomas made a full recovery and had a solid senior year, but the interest from schools didn’t return.
“It gave me motivation, knowing that, okay, y’all don’t want me now, that’s fine,” Thomas said about his recruitment process. “I’m gonna just work my tail off, and I’m gonna get back to the point where y’all do want me.”
Lions and Tigers
After high school, Thomas enrolled at Middle Georgia Prep, a postgraduate athletics program that, according to its website, has helped over 150 athletes secure athletic scholarships.
During his lone season as a Lion, Thomas averaged 11.2 points per game, 7.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. He was stellar, but most of the value he gained came off the court.
“It taught me how to handle myself as a man off the court,” Thomas said. “I had to talk to college coaches every day, because it happens a lot. We traveled across the country, and I had to learn how to portray myself well in public for the program. I had to go to a new place I knew nothing about and still find comfort in my surroundings. It taught me a lot in those aspects.”
Thomas’s next stop was Cowley Community College in Arkansas City, Kansas – 14 hours from where he grew up. The senior was hesitant at first because he didn’t know the resources or support system he would have so far away from home, but in two years at Cowley, he was able to build long-standing relationships while developing into a better basketball player.
“I didn’t really think JUCO was for me, as a lot of people don’t,” Thomas said. “Everybody says that JUCO is about fending for yourself, but if you find a really good JUCO team and a good coach, the program is like a family.”
The “good coach” for Thomas was Donnie Jackson, who was intrigued by Thomas’s versatility but knew he needed to grow in some areas on and off the court.
“When I saw him, I still thought he was a little bit of a project, just because, you know, he was a little thin and still needed to get stronger and gain weight,” Jackson said. “The appeal was his ability to stretch the floor shooting the ball, and then he was a great wall up rim protector guy and was fairly mobile for his size.”
“When he got here, though, it was a little up and down, just trying to get him to learn the pace and strength of the game in junior college,” Jackson continued. “I don’t care what anyone says, I feel like JUCO is arguably the fastest level, as far as a transition phase. So it took him a little while to get up to speed. Then, I want to say the last eight or nine games of his freshman year, he started for us and showed some serious potential.”
Thomas has shown flashes, but Jackson knew he had a lot more to offer if he could improve his work ethic and put on weight. In the offseason, they had a heart-to-heart conversation.
“My freshman year, Coach Jackson used to cuss me out and get on me a lot, but he also knew I was not a kid who was afraid of hard coaching,” Thomas said. “So after the season, he told me he wanted me to be a big part of what he was doing the following year and basically said that he had goals for me, and if I didn’t reach those goals, I didn’t really care about being where I wanted to be. And so when he gave me that challenge, I told him; I’m coming back, and I’m gonna be one of the best players you got.”
Thomas fulfilled his promise and then some.
He started 33 games and averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. His performance earned him all-conference first-team honors, and he was ranked as the 57th best junior college player in the country.
Becoming Brave
Thomas helped the Tigers reach the national tournament, which boosted his recruiting stock.
He’d finally made the coaches want him again.
“I went from like five offers to 21 offers in a week,” Thomas said. “I had offers from St. Bonaventure, a few in the Southern Conference and Conference USA. The biggest reason I chose Bradley was the family atmosphere and environment they created during my visit. All the coaches and the players were at every activity we did, and I got to spend time with the players off the floor and experience the love they have for each other.”
Even though the Braves accepted him with open arms, his transition to Peoria was still an adjustment. Thomas had to learn a new role after being the starter at Cowley and had to adjust to the physicality of Division I basketball. Things weren’t easy, and at times he struggled with his confidence. Then, in one game, it all clicked.
“The biggest challenge last year was learning how to stay ready,” Thomas said. “You can get your number called at any time. When I finally had a decent game against Murray State, it gave me the confidence to remember that I’ve been here before. Yeah, it’s a different stage – it’s a different level – but at the end of the day, it’s still basketball, and I had to learn to have that confidence.”
Thomas finished last season showing real signs of progress – finally looking comfortable within Bradley’s system and understanding how to impact games in multiple ways. That momentum fueled a focused offseason in which he dedicated himself to becoming stronger, more physical and more consistent on both ends of the floor.
“The thing I wanted to improve the most – shout out to Coach Eddie – was my lower-body strength,” Thomas said. “My legs were a big part of why people were easily able to move me a little bit last year. I’ve been working to fix that, and also just my defensive awareness and knowing when to be in the right spot and how to help the next guy.”
It’s a familiar pattern for Thomas: every stop in his career – from high school adversity to junior college stardom to carving out his role at Bradley – he’s found a way to take a step forward. Each challenge has become another checkpoint in his steady climb.
“Well, he’s stronger,” Wardle said. “When you get physically stronger, your confidence goes up on the court. I think he committed to himself, putting on ten more pounds of muscle. He’s just more comfortable and confident in the system and in how we train and do things. We’re hoping for a breakout year for him.”
Heading into his second season in Peoria, the Braves’ coaches are betting that pattern continues. And if history is any indication, Thomas will deliver – stronger, smarter and ready to make his mark when Bradley needs him most.
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