‘Be The Best’: Catholic High’s Blaise Thomassie inspired by mother’s memory
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Catholic High offensive tackle Blaise Thomassie had his Michael Jordan moment in the seventh grade.
Before he became a global icon and the world’s greatest basketball player, Jordan readily repeated a story of redemption that began when he was cut as a sophomore from his high school’s varsity basketball team.
The ability of the 5-foot-10 Jordan was not held in high regard at Laney High School in North Carolina, where he was instead placed on the junior varsity team.
A growth in size and his overall game catapulted Jordan to the McDonald’s All-America game, an All-America career at the University of North Carolina that led to a path with the Chicago Bulls, where he won six NBA championships and distinguished himself as the game’s best player.
Thomassie dealt with similar rejection when he was one of his middle school’s most gifted students and was in contention for one of five spots on the school’s math team.
There was one final qualifying test for inclusion, where Thomassie’s score didn’t meet the qualifying mark to garner one of the top five spots on the team.
“I thought I was never not making a math team again,” he said. “I’ve gone the last three years where I’m top three in the state in math competitions. Just striving to be the best I can.”
Such determination is rooted in the drive Thomassie’s exhibited in the classroom, never recording a ‘B’ in his academic career, and is on track to be among his class valedictorian next spring.
Thomassie is the president of Catholic’s Honor Board and a National Honor Society member and carries a class-best weighted grade point average of 4.25, and his ACT score of 33 trails the other valedictory candidates who have perfect scores of 36.
“I might, I’m thinking about taking it again,” Thomassie said. “I went to middle school with both of them. I can’t lose.”
Thomassie will add an additional four Advanced Placement classes to his academic load this year to go with the seven college-level courses he’s already passed. He’s also the math club’s secretary and a member of the school’s student ministry, where he continues to impact younger students.
“I’d like to get (Catholic High) Student of the Year,” he said. “The big thing for me is to give back to Catholic, which has given so much to me.”
Matt Shelton’s someone who’s had a front row seat, teaching and coaching Thomassie since he enrolled at Catholic in the eighth grade.
Shelton, now the school’s athletic director after previously serving as offensive line coach, felt compelled by Thomassie’s acumen to become a better coach and teacher, where he’s been an instructor in one of his AP classes.
“He knows what to do and doesn’t matter if it’s chemistry AP or football getting ready to play (state semifinal playoff last season), Karr, he’s studied and ready to go,” he said. “He knows the what-ifs. During the week, we can see how much film they’re watching. We asked them to watch a minimum of five minutes a day or 35 minutes a week.
“I wanted to make sure I watched more film than Blaise because he watched three to four hours,” he said. “He made me a better coach because of the questions I was going to get from him on Monday. I would feel like an idiot if I didn’t. If it’s just us two in the room, I’m definitely not the smartest person in the room.”
The 6-foot-5, 290 Thomassie will start his third season for Catholic, which won the Division I select state championship in 2023 and reached the state semifinals last season, falling 20-16 at eventual state champion Karr.
Thomassie, the son of former LSU standout guard Ryan Thomassie, has already navigated his own recruiting process. With his dad acting as a sounding board, the Thomassies took unofficial and official visits together, where Blaise committed to Stanford on June 10.
“It was hard to beat,” said Thomassie, who also made an official visit to Florida before the trip to Stanford and canceled a remaining trip to TCU. “Everything they offered me, academics wise, and just the people out there, too, was great. Palo Alto (Calif.) was a place I envisioned myself living for the next four years and even more. I wanted a place where I felt comfortable like that, especially with the coaches.”
According to On3 Sports, Thomassie is the nation’s No. 63-rated offensive tackle and No. 21-rated prospect in Louisiana. He distinguished himself with a top-five finish at the Under Armour Camp in New Orleans in March.
With 15 scholarship offers, Thomassie was afforded the opportunity to play college football, first by Florida State when former Catholic head coach Gabe Fertitta (now offensive coordinator at Nicholls State) was on staff.
Power-4 Conference overtures also came from Arkansas, Baylor, Florida, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas State, and Oregon. Stanford extended its offer Feb. 28 and set up an official visit less than four months later, captivating Thomassie during his stay on the picturesque campus.
“They had been in contact with me,” Thomassie said of a visit from Stanford’s outside linebackers coach Bobby April III in the spring of 2024. “(Offensive line) Coach (Al) Netter had just gotten there, and there was a whole staff change. I think the staff wanted to trust that I was really interested in going. They don’t often get guys from Louisiana that want to travel that far. I really wanted to explore that.”
Stanford’s program was in a bit of flux following the resignation of long-time head coach David Shaw, and his replacement, Troy Taylor, had been relieved of his duties.
The Cardinal opted to bring back a familiar face – Andrew Luck – back into the fold, who then hired Frank Reich as the team’s interim head coach.
“I never felt more confident in someone than him that would win,” Thomassie said of Luck, a former Stanford standout quarterback who was named the school’s general manager over the NFL-style hierarchy. “He doesn’t have to be doing what he’s doing. He played in the NFL. He wants to come back to a program that changed his life, and I believe in him.”
Having grown up an LSU fan with visions of following in his father’s footsteps into Tiger Stadium, Thomassie is at peace with the direction his career will take after high school.
“LSU really hasn’t given me the opportunity, and even so, I feel my home is in Palo Alto at Stanford,” he said. “Going away from home really wasn’t a problem for me. It’s just a flight away. I love it.”
Thomassie credited his dad’s input for helping solidify his choice to attend Stanford before the visit had concluded.
With Ryan, who played right guard under Gerry DiNardo from 1995-1998, serving as a valuable resource on the recruiting trail, the choice of Stanford was well vetted before they boarded a plane to return home.
“He’s really helped me being able to figure out what’s real and what’s fake,” he said. “He helped me think through everything. We just sat and talked for an hour or two, the morning we were coming back. I have no regrets. He made me feel more confident about it.
“Just having him on the visit and asking tough questions helped,” he said. “Sometimes I may get nervous and not know what to ask a coach. He wants what’s best for me. He’s not scared to ask the tough questions because he wants me to be in the right spot.”
Both avid golfers, the Thomassies purchased golf balls and tees with Stanford’s logo, hats, and polos.
“I committed on my visit because I knew that was the spot,” he said. “Now, I’m not entertaining anything anymore. I canceled my other visits, and I’m really locked into Stanford.”
One of the more eye-opening moments of the visit came during the academic portion, where prospects have the opportunity to interact with members of the school’s faculty.
Much to Thomassie’s surprise, Stanford has one of the world’s more recognizable figures on faculty in former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a former Provost at the school for seven years before joining President George W. Bush’s cabinet for one term.
“She told us some crazy stories when she was secretary, meeting with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and how he stood up on her at a table and tried to get in her face,” Thomassie said. “She said she stood up and was taller than him, and he sat right back down. You can’t get anything like that at any other university. She loves football. She loves the o-line.”
Ryan Thomassie’s path to LSU, with stays in the XFL, NFL Europe, and a training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers that was cut short by injury, wasn’t filled with the traditional steps of youth league football.
Thomassie said his dad didn’t play tackle football until he arrived at South Lafourche High School, a script that played out once again with his son.
Blaise enjoyed basketball and travel baseball, and was a quarterback for his flag football team, until arriving at Catholic as a 5-10, 160-pound eighth grader.
“He looked like a baby giraffe trying to figure out how to take his first steps,” Shelton said. “He was a big, tall, gangly kid.”
Thomassie said playing flag football was his dad’s idea, providing a visual on how offenses worked, coupled with the inner workings of a team.
Ryan also gave Blaise a blunt assessment of chasing his NBA dreams.
“He broke it to me that I wouldn’t be able to play in the NBA at my size,” he said. “I started working more at football. I still played basketball and baseball until high school, and played basketball until my sophomore year.
“He always tells me now, if I never wanted to play football, he wouldn’t make me play,” he said. “He wanted me to do what I wanted to do. He wanted me to be happy. In the back of his mind, he really wanted me to play football. He’s happy it worked out the way that it did.”
Thomassie played sparingly at center, setting the stage for an offseason where genetics started to kick in. He grew to 6-1 and 190 pounds and developed a love for the game after his father continued to preach a stronger commitment that landed him a spot on the freshman team.
Blaise was a virtual sponge, working with his father in the family’s driveway on the traits that would help transform him into a formidable offensive lineman, where hand placement, footwork, and technique were essential to his growth, to help compensate for his non-football background.
“The first game I played, I fell in love with it,” Thomassie said. “Just being able to play and be out there with all of my teammates. There’s nothing better than falling in love with the process. All the work, the sprints you run. I loved every part of even the hardest times. That’s where I felt my mindset was different.”
Thomassie’s work in the weightroom under strength coach Matt Bruce helped boost his weight to 215 – still not ideal for a Class 5A/Division I tackle – but his acceptance to coaching, time in the film room, and technique work – both with his father and coaches – enabled him to shoot up the Bears’ depth chart.
Two years after putting on pads for the first time, Thomassie had etched his name as the team’s starter at left tackle, protecting the blindside of right-handed senior quarterback Daniel Beale, now at UL-Lafayette.
“He had technique and knew what to do and where to be,” Shelton said. “He understood leverage and where the ball was trying to go. He thrived as an undersized sophomore.”
Once film of Catholic’s latest game was posted late each Friday night, it became a ritual between father and son for the next two seasons to watch film until as late as 2 o’clock.
“He said you can celebrate when you are on the bus with your friends, but once you get home, we’re going to watch film,” Blaise said of his dad’s directive. “There were some rough nights, but ultimately, I’ve gotten better. I’d get mad at myself sometimes.
“I’d think I had a great game, but there were the smallest things where I placed my foot, giving away my pass set,” Blaise said. “The main thing was what he said word for word; I tried to do it. Anything he did, I tried to figure a way to work it out. I knew he played at the highest level, and he knew more than I did. Whatever it was, I had to get it fixed for the next game.”
Catholic divided its first four games of the 2023 season before going on a 10-game winning streak to win the Division I state select title to cap the first season of head coach Hudson Fuller.
One of the Bears’ strengths that season was the play from their offense with Ervin Smith, Jr., an eventual Louisiana Tech signee, at right tackle opposite of Thomassie, who didn’t miss a start at left tackle.
Catholic advanced to the state championship game, winning a hard-fought 38-35 state semifinal over John Curtis, to face perennial non-select power Acadiana in the Superdome.
Preparations for the state championship game wrapped up on a Friday with the team leaving for New Orleans in the morning to convene at Brother Martin High School.
Based on the events on the morning of the game, it didn’t appear the Bears would have the services of Thomassie because of a bout with food poisoning.
The offensive tackle, whose weight reached a high of 230 pounds during the season, lost 20 pounds overnight after throwing up and sweating. He required fluids at a local urgent care and traveled separately from the team to New Orleans.
“He shows up white as a ghost, he looked terrible,” Shelton said. “When it was game time, 215-pound, recently rehydrated Blaise went out and never missed a beat. It was never a problem.”
Thomassie remembers lining up across from a formidable test in Acadiana’s five-star defensive lineman Dominick McKinley, a future LSU signee, and defensive end Darryus McKinley, a three-star prospect this season with Power 4 offers from schools such as LSU.
Thomassie was never better, and Catholic’s offense flourished, compiling 503 total yards in a 55-31 victory to win the state championship. Beale passed for 360 yards and combined for five touchdowns, running back Barry Remo added 121 yards and 3 TDs on the ground, and wide out Cohen LeBlanc had 12 yards and 2 TDs receiving.
“The trainers were saying it probably wasn’t smart that I played,” Thomassie said. “I don’t think they planned for me to get there. I told them when I got there, I was going to play. There was nothing that could stop me from playing that game.
“I didn’t eat or drink anything, I couldn’t stomach anything without throwing it up,” Thomassie said. “I was very proud of how much I played, and that was a turning point where mentally I knew I felt different.”
Thomassie returned from a first-team All-District 4-5A season in ’23 to help anchor Catholic’s line once again with Smith, and the result was another deep playoff run.
Playing between 265 to 270 pounds, Thomassie had become increasingly comfortable and knowledgeable with Catholic’s multiple offense that was capable of throwing and running, and trying to keep defenses off balanced.
The additional time in the film room further advanced Thomassie’s ability to sense where defenses may send pressure based on alignment. He also benefited from daily practices where the well-schooled Bears’ line, led by 340-pound tackle Tarjon Dearbone, always provided a stern challenge.
“I feel my best is pass protection,” he said. “I don’t feel like there are many, if any, people in the country that will win four quarters against me. I feel like I can dominate anyone that comes against me.
“I love going against him (Dearbone) and all of our d-tackles,” he said. “Our guys are technically better than anyone we go against. I feel our d-line is the best in the state. That’s a big resource for me to see that every day in practice.”
The Bears were 10-0 during the regular season and reached the state semifinals, where they at Karr.
Thomassie extended his string of consecutive starts to 27, was named to the all-district first team for a second time, and earned a spot on the Louisiana Football Coaches Association’s Class 5A All-State first team.
“I’ve never had somebody that knew all of the positions, knew what everybody was supposed to do, could make all of the calls, and do it well,” said Shelton, whose son Josh will start next to Thomassie at guard. “If you put him somewhere on the field, he’s going to know what to do. He’s remarkable. He really is.”
Thomassie is greeted each day at his locker by the reminder, “Be the Best.”
Those were the final words Tippy Thomassie spoke to her son before breast cancer took her life on May 10, 2024. She was 45.
“I know she’ll always be with me,” Thomassie said. “I have people around me that support me, whether it’s my brothers from Catholic or my family.”
Thomassie had to pick up the pieces the same week of Catholic’s spring game to move on with his life without his beloved mother.
Tippy Thomassie (her given name was Tippory) was a graduate of then Bishop Sullivan (now St. Michael) and LSU, where she met and fell in love with Ryan.
“She was an unbelievable lady,” Shelton said.
Tippy loved boating and taking part in Fantasy Football Drafts. She was first stricken with cancer following Blaise’s birth, but exuded a fighting spirit that became a defining trait.
She flourished helping others, serving as St. Jude’s Home & School president, where she won the Mother Seton award in 2021 for her selfless commitment.
Her fundraising efforts were legendary, benefitting both St. Jude’s school and church.
“She changed a lot of people’s lives in such a positive way,” Blaise said. “She’s just the greatest role model in my life.”
When it comes to emulating a role model during adversity, the now 290-pound Blaise knows whose blood is pumping through his veins.
“She’s the fighter,” he said. “I feel like it’s in my blood. My dad said I got my toughness from my mom, and I believe that to be true. She never gave up. It baffles me all what she went through the entire time, and I never knew.
“They never told me until the last couple of months,” he said. “Obviously, she was ill, but I never knew what it was. She did such a great job and never showed anything when she was hurting. She was strong.”
Catholic High had no greater fan than Tippy, who was armed each Friday with a larger-than-life No. 70 sign in support of her favorite left tackle.
“She didn’t stop holding it up the entire time,” he said. “It was great seeing her in the crowd.”
Blaise said there was a recurrence of cancer when he was five or six years old, a battle she waged for five years.
Shelton and his wife were part of a group Tippy provided updates to on her health. Her biggest wish was that her husband and son would be OK, he said once the cancer had returned, and that Blaise find himself in the warmth of loving people.
“She had a smile on her face through the whole thing,” Shelton said. “She wanted to make sure Blaise was surrounded by good people. They have done well with him. He’s a great kid.”
Shelton said it was Ryan, a financial planner, who came to Catholic High to break the news to his son about the passing of the family’s matriarch.
Blaise missed one day of practice, seeking the comfort of his teammates during such a difficult time in his life.
“They’re always there for me,” he said. “Being able to have them around me and putting faith in God and knowing that he’s taking care of her, and he’ll take care of me. She was a role model who loved me.”
The funeral of Tippy Thomassie drew a capacity of approximately 2,000 mourners to St. Jude, a show of her effect on people.
“They couldn’t fit any more people,” Blaise said. “I hope and wish to make that kind of impact. Everyone said she changed their lives, and I feel like I want to do that with my life as well.”
“There were people that I didn’t know,” Blaise said. “They said they had worked with my mom, maybe went to high school or middle school with her. They were there for her.”
“It was really sad,” Shelton said. “Blaise is not a big show-of-emotion-type kid. He was emotional, very upset, and broken, but he handled it with class. He kept it together, and that’s because of who she was. She raised him to be that way. He is a picture of her.”
Thomassie was overwhelmed several months later when Shelton and Catholic’s coaches presented him with his helmet that contained a special sticker on the back.
They were able to capture Tippy’s signature off LHSAA forms previously signed for Blaise and had her script first name placed on a sticker that has become part of Thomassie’s game day attire.
“I thought it was unbelievable when the coaches got it for me,” he said. “I also have a picture of her in my locker. I have that with me to remind me of her. It gives me another reason to play and to never give up.”
More than a year after his mother’s death, Thomassie found himself honoring her memory when he committed to Stanford. He plans to pursue a major in Bio-Medical Engineering with visions of becoming an orthopedic surgeon should a career in the NFL not pan out.
Tippy Thomassie was an avid bird lover who considered the Cardinal her favorite.
Stanford’s physical mascot is an evergreen tree, but the school is commonly referred to as the Cardinal in reference to the school’s color of red.
Blaise noticed the symbolism.
“There was a little correlation I found out,” he said. “She would have loved the choice I made to go to the top academic school in the country and to play Power 4 football. I don’t take things for granted anymore.
“I’m definitely more mature,” he said. “You have to make the most of every day. I’ve taken care more of my responsibilities and become more of a man. I care for my dad, too, but he takes care of me more. Our relationship is the tightest it’s been. We’re there for each other. It’s just us now.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Catholic High School