BRADENTON, Fla. - Josh Thomas is what you would call a late bloomer.

A relative newcomer to track and field.

But just as quickly as he dashes down the track, that’s how quickly this Braden River senior burst onto the scene.

“I think he has a lot of natural ability, so I’m not really surprised by the time,” Braden River Track and Field Coach Victoria Diaz said.

Josh was a football guy, a starter on the Pirates perennial playoff team. But his junior year, he decided to try another sport.

“I was really focused on football but at one of the lunches, Coach Diaz came and talked to me and convinced me to come out here,” Josh said.

The potential was there, right in front of Josh, surrounding him actually, every time he was on the football field. Where he once used to walk across the school’s rubberized track to get to the football field, Josh now feels at home on that track.

“After I ran that 10.87, I was like, yeah this could be my sport,” Josh said.

He posted that 10.87 during a meet his junior year. This season, he set at new school record with a 10.52 in the 100-meter dash, the fastest time in Class 3A this year. Josh’s desire to get better with every race sets a tone with his team.

“He’s great with the younger athletes,” Diaz said. “He’s always about positive self talk, saying things like - you’ve got to believe - and he’ll point to his head like that. Like, you’ve got to believe in yourself, that’s how you get to where you want to be. So he’s just a very positive influence to have a on a team.”

Josh believes in himself, but not to the point where he thinks he’s better than everyone else. He knows there’s always room for improvement in his quest to be the best. That’s an inner drive that can’t be coached.

“It just makes him hungrier to work harder,” Diaz said. “And he’s definitely humble. He doesn’t think he’s the greatest in the world or anything like that. And he comes out and works out as if he wasn’t the best.

Track has literally set Josh on a path for success. He says it changed his life and gave him a focus. And a future that he continues to run towards.

“I’ve learned you get out what you put into this sport,” he said.