Editor's Note: Joe Thomas will be honored this Saturday, Oct. 12, with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during Wisconsin's game against Michigan State in Madison, Wisconsin. He will be officially inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10 in New York City.

Joe Thomas
University of Wisconsin
Offensive Lineman, 2003-06

• Named a unanimous First Team All-America selection in 2006.
• Claimed the Outland Trophy and honored as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete in 2006.
• Led Badgers to four bowl games and three Top 20 finishes.
• Played for coaches Bret Bielema and College Football Hall of Famer Barry Alvarez.
• Becomes the 10th Wisconsin player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Joe Thomas may have grown up about 70 miles East of Madison, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, but he admits that he took a "grass is greener" approach to his college recruitment. He visited a lot of schools, he said, but it soon dawned on him that there was no place like home.

Thomas laid his roots near the University of Wisconsin, where he blossomed as a two-time First-Team All-Big Ten performer and a 2006 unanimous First Team All-American during his career with the Badgers. And he returned to the state capital after retiring from the NFL, making the news of his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame an incredible homecoming gift.

At a place that has become synonymous with its ground-and-pound attack, Thomas is the first Badgers offensive lineman in the modern era to be inducted into the Hall, and only the 10th overall player from the school to receive the distinction.

Crazy enough, his lasting impression on another Hall of Famer — his head coach, current Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez — came on the other side of the ball, as Alvarez moved Thomas to defensive end for the 2006 Capital One Bowl against Auburn.

"We're getting ready for the bowl game, we had some injuries on the defensive line," Alvarez said. "We put him at defensive line, and the first day he was there on the inside drill, he was about our best player."

Thomas has actually attended the NFF Annual Awards Dinner before, as he was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy® in 2006.

"My big memory is just [Hall of Fame coach] Bobby Bowden was there, and he gave this awesome speech," Thomas said. "I just remember thinking what an incredible speaker he is, and now that I have had time to reflect I'm like yeah, no kidding, the guy's probably given a million of those speeches before. He blew me away. He was just so passionate and so interesting."

Thomas became the first Outland Trophy winner in Badgers' history. He was a team captain and co-MVP as a senior in 2006, leading Wisconsin to a 12-1 season and a No. 7 ranking in the final AP poll.

Thomas' teams finished in the top 20 in each of his last three seasons, as he played through the end of the Alvarez era into the first year of the Bret Bielema era.

His best memory? It is hard to top his freshman year tilt against reigning national champion Ohio State, as Matt Schabert connected with Lee Evans for a 79-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass to secure a 17-10 win and deal the third-ranked Buckeyes their first loss of the season.

After retiring, Thomas has filled the football void by devoting himself to full-time husband and dad duties with his wife, Annie, a former Badgers basketball player, and their four children. He dabbles in television and radio work here and there while doubling as an ambassador for the Browns, where he played the entirety of his 11-year NFL career.

Despite the often nomadic lifestyle of a football player, Thomas — whose number of consecutive snaps played (10,363) is enshrined in Cleveland's ring of honor — recognizes how lucky he has been to be able to call just two places home across much of the past two decades: Cleveland and Madison. And he knows that none of us this is possible without the mentors he has had along the way.

"I reflected back to all the great coaches I had throughout my high school and college career and the impact that they made on me," Thomas said, "but also my parents for pushing me in athletics and taking me to all my different practices and paying for my jerseys and signing me up and encouraging me without being helicopter parents. I felt very lucky to have them in my corner in my athletics career."