Carson Star Thomas Has Troubled Past, Bright Future : Preps: All-American has proved he can do the job on the field, but must become a winner off it.

Despite his status as a high school All-American, Clayvand Thomas has a lot to overcome heading into the 1990 football season.

The Carson High defensive back is recovering from a broken kneecap suffered in a car accident in March and he has yet to be re-admitted to the school after his expulsion for disciplinary reasons in February.

Still, Thomas is confident everything will work out.

“I think I’ll get back (into Carson) with no problem,” he said. “I’m not even worried about that. I know they’re going to watch me tight and stay on my back, but that’s not going to be a problem. I’m going to take care of business and do what I have to do.”

Thomas has always taken care of business on the football field. He earned All-L.A. City honors last season after leading Carson with six interceptions, including three he returned for touchdowns to set a school record. This year, his name has turned up on several preseason All-American lists. Street & Smith selected him one of the top 50 seniors in the nation.

Carson Coach Gene Vollnogle rates Thomas among the best defensive backs to ever play at the school, which produced two former NFL defensive backs--Darrel Hopper and Wendell Cason.

“He has the natural instincts for the game,” Vollnogle said. “He reads (offenses) well. He defends between the run and pass well. He breaks to the ball well. He has a 150 IQ on the field.”

Off the field is where Thomas has run into trouble.

He missed Carson’s final two games last season after he was suspended from the team for fighting on campus. Two months later, he was kicked out of school for threatening a girl who accused him, some say falsely, of being involved in another on-campus fight.

Thomas also admitted to ditching classes, associating with gang members and talking back to teachers. Not exactly the stuff of All-Americans.

“He’s been a hoodlum since day one,” Vollnogle said. “I’d venture to say he has three or four pages in his (school) file of things he’s done.”

Vollnogle, though, has never given up on his standout cornerback, who first started on the varsity as a sophomore and helped Carson capture the L.A. City 4-A Division title.

“If he wasn’t improving all along, I’d say forget him,” he said. “But he has been improving and getting better. He just had so far to come.”

Thomas said he is committed to turning around his life.

Since his hospitalization for injuries suffered in the car accident, Thomas has restored order to his life with the help of behavioral counseling. Looking back, he said his problems stemmed from a lack of maturity.

Perhaps most painful is the knowledge that he let his teammates down after being suspended for fighting. Without Thomas at cornerback, Carson was upset, 26-15, by Dorsey in the L.A. City 4-A championship game. Earlier in the season, Thomas helped the Colts defeat Dorsey, 29-8.

“I regret the whole season last year,” he said. “My 10th grade year, I hung around with a lot of guys on the team. They kept me together. Last year when I was playing, I drifted off in my own little world.

“It’s going to be different this season. I look at things differently. I used to ditch, but there’s not going to be any more ditching. Everyone I tell that to laughs at me. They don’t believe me, but I’ve changed.”

One of the changes Thomas plans to make is in his attire. In the past, he has favored the flamboyant clothes and accessories worn by gang members.

“I used to dress like a thug,” he said. “I’m not going to do that anymore.”

Said Vollnogle: “He hung around with the wrong guys. He was always where he shouldn’t be.”

Thomas was in the wrong place at the wrong time March 12. He was riding with a friend in a Suzuki Samurai when the vehicle was broadsided by another car. Thomas, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the back and suffered a broken right kneecap and wrist.

“I tried to hold onto something, but I just flew,” he said. “It happened too fast.”

The accident, which occurred while Thomas was attending Narbonne after his expulsion from Carson, has put his senior season on hold. He hopes to be ready for the Colts’ season opener Sept. 14 against Bishop Amat, but that depends on how fast he can rehabilitate his right leg.

The kneecap has healed following surgery and a dislocation that occurred in a passing league game in June. But the muscles surrounding the joint are still recovering. He is making progress by riding a stationary bicycle and attending physical therapy.

“What I have to do is strengthen my thigh and my calf, and my knee won’t be a problem,” Thomas said. “I’m not in a rush anymore to come back. I’m not going to participate in physical fitness (which starts Monday) or hell week.

“I might be able to come back for the first game. It depends on how hard I work. My muscles are starting to come back now, so I don’t think it will be a problem.”

Vollnogle would like to see Thomas take it slow and easy.

“I think the best thing that can happen for him is if he starts playing halfway through the season,” he said. “I think it will be difficult for him to be ready in September. He hasn’t done anything since the first of December. That’s a long layoff.”

Thomas has used the layoff to catch up on his schoolwork. He completed four classes after the accident last spring and this summer he is taking economics and Spanish at Carson Christian. He does most of the work at home.

Because Thomas has worked diligently to earn class credits--summer school will put him ahead of schedule--Vollnogle believes Thomas will be re-admitted at Carson without much resistance from the administration.

“He might not be attending Carson High School, but I wouldn’t bet on it,” Vollnogle said. “I know the guy well enough to know that he bounces back. I’m sure they’re going to let him back in.”

Thomas knows that in order to fulfill his dream of playing college football he will have to perform as well in the classroom as he does on the field. That means approaching high school with a more serious attitude.

“Carson used to be boring to me,” he said. “But now I’m going to make it into a fun place.”

Thomas said he fell into a pattern last year of trying to get away with as much as he could.

“I missed as many as 20 days in certain classes and still passed,” he said. “I became a lazy person.”

With the help of behavioral counseling, Thomas has a new outlook.

“I’m going to put more into school and listen to my parents more,” he said. “(Counseling) made me look at myself and what type of person I am. I wake up every morning now and think about what needs to get done. Before, I never looked to get things done.”

Denard Jefferson, Thomas’ godbrother and a former Carson offensive lineman, has noticed the change in his friend.

“He’s more positive than he was last year,” Jefferson said. “He works hard every day. If he can’t go to his therapy, we work out on the street. I really think he has his head on straight after what he went through.”

Vollnogle is glad to hear those kind of reports. He remembers a different Clayvand Thomas, a player who frequently tested his patience.

“His biggest problem has been his mouth,” the coach said. “He was that way in football meetings. Invariably, I would have to tell him to shut up. I don’t know if he was bored or what. I think he needed the attention.”

Vollnogle, who has announced he will retire after the season, remembers a warning he gave Thomas during the player’s sophomore year.

“I told him the two of us weren’t going to get out of here together,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to change, so told him: ‘Either you change, or you’re history.’ ”

As it turned out, Vollnogle was nearly a prophet. But Thomas has every intention of finishing his high school career alongside the winningest coach (298-75-1) in state history. He has even told Vollnogle he is going to help Carson capture the mythical national championship.

“I know that Voll expects me to be a leader,” he said. “He doesn’t have to tell me that. I think he knows I can take care of the job.

“When I was in 10th grade, I used to have fun a lot. I used to joke around a lot. I guess he didn’t like that. But now I listen to what Voll has to say. I really don’t get out of control anymore.”