Charlie Thom is making the transition to offensive line so smoothly that you couldn’t even tell there was a change, according to Avon Old Farms head coach Jon Wholley.
“Honestly, you would never know that he didn't play offensive line,” Wholley said of the 2026 Connecticut prospect, who committed to Notre Dame as an offensive lineman back in June after playing tight end his entire prep career until this season.
“I thought it would be something that you'd be able to notice and really there's no way you would notice. He's so natural and good at it. We've had some great offensive linemen here and he's the best one in terms of all-around linemen.”
Thom has helped Wholley and the Beavers to an 8-0 record heading into their final regular season game of the year against Salisbury School on Saturday before playing in the New England Championship.
“He's been great,” Wholley said of the 6-foot-7, 275-pounder. “Thank God we have him. He's been one of our best players, one of our best leaders. He's been able to play both sides of the ball. He is everything you'd want in a kid who is going to Notre Dame.”
Wholley pointed to a handful of traits that made Thom a hot commodity down the stretch and are still serving him well this season.
“Work ethic, character, intelligence and athleticism,” the coach said. “Those things I think all factor in. He works extremely hard. He's smart and then on top of it, at the end of the day, athleticism matters.
“He can bend, move, transition. He plays physical. He is good in the passing game. From a team standpoint, he’s smart, he's adaptable. One of the things that has helped us is that he's been able to play defense too. Athletically, he has been able to play defensive end; use his hands, good contact balance, rush the passer. He was our Defensive Player of the Game two weeks ago. He's been our Defensive Player of the Game twice this year for us, which is hard to do.”
Playing defensive line - and playing it at Avon specifically - should pay dividends for Thom during his college career as well.
“In this particular situation, it gives him versatility and intellect of the game,” Wholley said. “His d-line coach is Paul Pasqualoni, who was the head coach of Syracuse and coached in the NFL.
“Getting coached by him and learning football from that perspective. What it shows is that he can do a lot and he's able to handle both sides of the ball. And this league is probably at its best on the line, and he's able to play both sides of the ball from a physical standpoint. It shows the conditioning too, mentally and physically.”
Moving forward, Wholley expects Thom’s biggest development to come from simply adding strength, but also expects that knowledge of the game to continue to be a tremendous asset.
“For a player who is smart, he'll just be a player that's smart regardless. Just considering what he's doing, he's a pretty smart player, but I think that could be one of his advantages as opposed to just a bonus as it is right now.”
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