Overcoming adversity, Ja’Kir Thomas’ stellar four-year career earns Carteret senior CJSR’s 2024 Longevity Award

Most high school football players spend two or three years on varsity, maybe starting for one or two of them.

The exceptional ones might be on the big boy squad as a freshman, and start as a sophomore.

Ja’Kir Thomas is none of those.

He was a Rambler varsity player for all four years of high school, and started all four years as well, but it’s more than that which earned him the Central Jersey Sports Radio Longevity Award for 2024.

“Old school tough.” “Fast and physical.” Those are the phrases opposing coaches use to talk about Thomas, whose head coach Kevin Freeman says he is “one of the top leaders he’s seen at Carteret.”

Through all that, he battled through two injuries this year – and returned from both – and a broken collarbone last year.

Freeman says he’s been the best player on the field since he was a sophomore, and in 2024, he had 100 rushing yards in all but two games – both contests in which the Ramblers led big early, and pulled him and other starters from the game.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Carteret senior Ja’Kir Thomas:

Honorable Mentions:

• Chase Young, St. Thomas Aquinas: A four-year contributor, the senior is a three-year starter, and has rushed for over 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in his career. He’s also logged 100-plus tackles on defense. He was a backup when he was thrown into the fire as a sophomore, had an outstanding junior year, then took on lead blocking duties for sophomore Chukwuma Odoh. He was having a career night in a game at Elizabeth earlier this year when he fainted and collapsed, but only missed one week before returning to action.
• Jonathan LoStocco, Somerville: A two-way lineman, he has 35 starts on the offensive line, and head coach Matt Bloom points out that if he didn’t tear his ACL in Week Three of his junior season, he’d probably have 41, a big number for a high school player. LoStocco has been on the OL since he was a freshman, and was a huge part of the Pioneers’ resurgence this year.