Thomas ready to battle his friend

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Jason Thomas hadn't even finished drying off from his postgame shower after Saturday night's 31-20 victory over Kansas when his thoughts turned to this week's game at Oregon State.

"I'm already thinking about Eric," Thomas said.

Eric would be Oregon State defensive tackle Eric Manning, a first team all-Pac 10 choice whose stock is rising with NFL scouts. He also happens to be the guy who snapped the ball to Thomas for three years as a center at Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif.

Now the longtime friends will meet head-to-head for the first time on a college football field. And Manning says he's looking forward to lining up on the other side of the ball from Thomas.

"It'll be strange in a way because I protected him all those years in high school," Manning said. "Now I have to try and hit him and make him fumble."

"It means a lot to play against Eric," Thomas said. "I've got a lot of friends up there on that team that I consider family. The last time I talked to (Manning) he said they were going to kick our (bleeps). "

Thomas and Manning talk about once a week on the phone. Rebel wide receiver David Relf, who also played on that Dominguez squad with Thomas and Manning, roomed with Manning for several months in Corvallis before moving back to Southern California to enroll at Compton College.

"We talk once or twice a week," Relf said. "Eric is always talking trash about what they're going to do to us up there. But it's going to be fun to go up there and see him this weekend."

Thomas and Manning, who also played linebacker for the Dons, did go head-to-head once their senior year in high school. And the outcome wasn't pretty.

"We were playing in the Black and Gold game," Manning said. "I hit Jason out of bounds and he flew out onto the track."

"They got into a little fist fight after that one," Relf said with a smile. "I think it was out of love, though."

Thomas still remembers the play.

"It was bad," he said. "I couldn't talk to the man for a couple of days. It was one of those things where we had never gone against each other before. We're both so darn competitive that it kind of overflowed."

"It's just part of football," Manning added. "We were kind of like brothers and emotions ran high that day. But we're still close. He used to come spend the night at my house and I'd spend it over at his house."

But that friendship will be placed on hold for about three hours on Saturday afternoon in Corvallis.

"He tells me how they're an upper level school, a couple of notches above us," Thomas said. "Now he has to prove it. Win or lose, we'll always be buddies. I want him to win every game ... except this one."

After Thomas rushed for 74 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 144 more yards and another TD in the Rebels' 31-20 victory over the Jayhawks Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, Mangino had nothing but praise for the 6-foot-4, 230-pound lefthander.

"He's a remarkable athlete," Mangino said. "He did some great things out there tonight."

Kansas linebacker Greg Cole agreed.

"We contained him for a while, but he started scrambling a little bit and it built his confidence up," Cole said. "That's a problem with a good quarterback -- you let him build momentum and they're going to hurt you in the end."

Mangino, though, said he thinks Thomas might be an even more dominant player if he played on defense.

"If he played defensive end, he'd be drafted in the first round," he said.