SMITHSON VALLEY, Texas — Colton Thomasson has always been the biggest kid in his class.

He's been on college recruiting radars since eighth grade because of his size. He's also got an affinity for playing physical on the football field, and he's just fine with his teammates grabbing the spotlight.

In other words, the Smithson Valley junior was born to be an offensive lineman.

"I've loved it ever since I was little," Thomasson said. "I'm gonna mow you over and then get right back up and do the same thing the entire game."  

At 6-feet-8 inches and about 320 pounds, Thomasson is the most imposing figure on the Rangers team. But the last offseason, his size was beginning to overshadow his talent. 

"I was either gonna lose the weight, or I was gonna be the kid that never was," Thomasson said. "Not only do I have to do this so I can be a good football player, I have to do this for my health."

Thomasson had ballooned to more than 403 pounds by the end of Christmas break. 

"He said, 'What do you think I need to be?'" said Jason Thomasson, Colton's father and Smithson Valley assistant coach. "I said, 'Son, you're 6'8", if you got down to 315 and you're a flat belly, the world's gonna be your oyster. You can go do whatever you want to do."

With the help of his parents, Thomasson began to prepare his meals for the week every Sunday. He started eating five meals per day, with protein and greens at every sitting.

"We get a bunch of chicken breasts from H-E-B," Thomasson said. "We cook 'em up and then I make my meals for the week."

Thomasson even cut out his Whataburger meals after his weekly youth group meetings. He also supplemented his new diet with extra workouts.

"Whenever it got hard, whenever I wanted to quit running laps around this track, I just thought about having that goal in mind," Thomasson said.

The weight started dropping immediately.

"He would come to me, 'Dad, I lost 7 more pounds," Jason Thomasson said. "'Dad, I lost 8 more pounds. Dad, I'm down to 350. Dad, I'm down to 330.' Then all of a sudden he's like, 'Dad, I'm 312.'"

He lost 91 pounds in about six months. His dedication to getting smaller solidified his place among the top offensive linemen in the class of 2023.  

"I was just moving lighter. I stayed with my strength. My first two steps were much quicker," Thomasson said. 

College programs felt the same way. Thomasson picked up a half-dozen scholarship offers during June alone. 

"If I could lose a bunch of weight, I felt like I could go somewhere," Thomasson said. "I didn't know it was going to be the options like A&M and UT and Oklahoma."

He verbally committed to Texas A&M just before his junior season. 

"It did take a lot of discipline. That's really why he got the response from the coaches this summer that he got," Jason Thomasson said. "Because to see that discipline, they all say, well you're bought in."

The offensive lineman transformed from being big to be a little less big to level up.

"Once I got going, and I got into the swing of things, I figured out that this is what I wanted to do," Thomasson said. "I wasn't going to quit till I got my goal."