Throughout his life and football career, Thomas Mayo has maintained a hard work ethic and motto “No days off.” His endless work has finally paid off.
Following the completion of the 2012 NFL Draft, Mayo was signed as an undrafted free agent and agreed to a three-year deal with the Oakland Raiders.
Mayo vividly remembers the moment he heard the news of his signing.
“That moment is indescribable,” said Mayo. “I was surrounded by my family and we were all just crying.”
Mayo graduated from South Lakes in 2008. During his senior year of high school, Mayo caught 37 receptions, four touchdowns, and had 540 receiving yards.
After graduating from South Lakes, he committed to Concord University for football, but left prior to his senior season to attend California University of Pennsylvania.
Mayo cited coaching changes as the reason behind his transfer.
“I left Concord due to my head coach leaving,” said Mayo.” I’ve had three different head coaches in my college career and I really didn’t want that for my senior year, so I followed him to Cal U [of Pennsylvania].”
While playing for both of these colleges, Mayo was selected three times as a D2Football.com All-American.
“All-American was really a great honor,” said Mayo. “It really proved anything can happen.”
Mayo finished his senior season at Cal U of PA with a career high of 16Â touchdown receptions and ranked fourth in the country in 1,359 receiving yards. He was also selected to participate in the 2012 East West Shrine Bowl. He finished his college career ranked number 11 in Division II history with 4,249 total receiving yards.
“That season I really just left everything out on the field,” said Mayo. “I was out to prove I was good enough for the NFL.”
After all of his achievements at the collegiate level of football, Mayo will prepare for his travel to Oakland for minicamp.
He anticipates the chance to show his talent during mini-camp.
“I’m extremely excited for minicamp,” said Mayo. “It gives me the opportunity to really prove myself and my capabilities.”
Though Mayo has a bright future, he still looks to his beginning at South Lakes.
“My dream is to be able to come back to South Lakes and see a kid in the same shoes I was in,” said Mayo.
For more information about Mayo see:
