East Lansing’s Javon Thomas achieves one of goals in signing with Eastern Michigan football

Javon Thomas woke up excited Wednesday morning.

And after putting pen to paper early in the morning and making his college decision official with the Eastern Michigan football program at home alongside his parents, the East Lansing senior defensive lineman had a smile that didn’t leave his face.

“It felt amazing just being able to wake up and seeing how genuinely happy and proud my family is for me and seeing how much hard work and time I’ve put into it,” Thomas said Wednesday evening.

“I feel like I achieved one of my main goals. It felt amazing. I was cheesing all morning.”

Thomas was one of two players from Greater Lansing to sign with Division I programs Wednesday, which marked the first day of the early signing period. Haslett senior running back Nakai Amachree signed with Bowling Green.

For the 6-foot-4, 263-pound Thomas, Wednesday’s signing made official a commitment he made to the Eagles in June during a bowling function on his official visit. Thomas picked EMU over offers from Western Michigan and Army.

“Ever since I was young, I always wanted to play at the next level,” Thomas said. “The dream is to go to the NFL. Recently, especially today, it is really setting in that one of my steps to getting there has been achieved. I’ve just got to keep on working.”

Thomas, who is rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports, capped his career by earning Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Division 2 all-state honors and second team all-state recognition in Division 1-2 from the Associated Press. His contributions in the trenches helped East Lansing make a run to the state semifinals.

The mission for Thomas is to build on his high school success as he heads to EMU to play defensive tackle. And the weight room will be the focus as he gets ready for the next stage of his career.

“I want to get my program from there and hit the weight room and get as right as possible so I’m right where the (coaches) want me to be so I can start off my EMU career right,” Thomas said.

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.