Ohio State Football: WR Mike Thomas Has Huge Spring Game

I know, your first reaction is, "who is Mike Thomas?"  It was mine, too.

Thomas, a 6'2", 192-pound freshman wide receiver from Los Angeles, California exploded into the college football scene for Ohio State with an eye-opening spring game Saturday.

Often going no-huddle, sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller finished 24-of-31 (77.4 percent) for 258 yards on the day, delivering crisp passes inside and outside of the pocket while rallying Scarlet to a comeback victory over Gray, 20-14.

However, it was Thomas who stole the spotlight, hauling in an incredible (and unheard of in Buckeye nation—until now) 12 receptions for 131 yards. He was without doubt Miller's favorite target of the day.

If you don't know why this is such a big deal to Ohio State fans, put Thomas' performance into perspective: three Buckeyes were tied for the team lead with 14 receptions for all of 2011.

Miller completed just 75 passes in nine starts last season. If today is any sign for things to come, he's on pace to complete 288 in 2012, with Thomas reeling in half of those—just 11 short of the NCAA record.

While it's all just speculation and it's very easy to get carried away with breakout spring game performances, the Buckeyes are in desperate need of playmakers in the new spread-option.

Urban Meyer isn't known for favoring upperclassmen over young bucs, so I'm sure he won't hesitate to start the best at the position.

Whether that be Thomas or not is to be determined, but Meyer did list him as one of the top two options at wide receiver, along with Corey "Philly" Brown (who finished with seven catches for 90 yards himself).

“Right now, him and (Brown) are kind of our top two (receivers),” Meyer said, according to The Lantern. “I’d have to say right now our playmakers on offense—the top five, in order—are Jordan Hall, would be Jake Stoneburner, would be probably Carlos (Hyde), Philly Brown, Michael Thomas and Devin Smith.”

Follow this reporter on Twitter: @Tyler_Waddell