NORMAN — Elijah Thomas is ready to break through in Year 2. The Checotah, Okla., product generated a lot of hype in fall camp a year ago, but he was limited to a role on special teams as a true freshman. He values that experience from a year ago, but Thomas is ready to help Ben Arbuckle’s offense. After a year of growth, he feels like his time is now. “Massive maturation. A lot of maturation in my process,” he said on Tuesday. “I changed my process up, my mindset’s all different. I’m coming for it. That’s it.”Thomas said his goal throughout the offseason was to earn the trust of the coaching staff so that he could get a chance to help the offense this fall. “I had to show them I know my plays and I can make my plays,” Thomas said. Thomas cited fellow receiver Keontez Lewis as a big inspiration from a year ago, as he modeled for the young pass catcher what it takes to earn a spot on the field at Oklahoma. “He was a route technician,” Thomas said. “Everything that he did I studied as much as I could and I still study it to this day. He’s very detailed in everything he does. Studying, taking notes, taking it to the field, it’s just everything he does is consistent.”Thomas said the learning curve wasn’t as much about how complicated the system is as much as he just needed to learn how to operate every day as a big-time college football player. “It takes a lot of maturity. Coming from high school, you didn’t really have to worry about much. And coming here, you have to worry about a little bit more than you do in high school,” he said. It didn’t make last year any easier, though. “It was tough, but I knew what I had in store the next year and in the future,” Thomas said. Thomas has his teammates excited, but he said receivers coach Emmett Jones and head coach Brent Venables continue to motivate him to get the best out of the sophomore. “Emmett Jones, he on me 24/7. Coach V on me 24/7. Even the assistant coaches. We set a high standard here. We expect every player to live up to it,” Thomas said. Now, after a long fall camp, Thomas is ready to emerge as a playmaker for quarterback John Mateer.“Big developmental period for me and my whole team,” he said. “Going through it together, it really made it very easy gaining that trust from my coaches and my teammates and I can trust them as much as they can trust me.”Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow