"He has never mentioned any individual accolades": Meleek Thomas' OTE coach speaks about the Arkansas signee's elite mentality 

Arkansas signee Meleek Thomas is ranked as the third-best shooting guard in the Class of 2025. Thomas has been making waves with his performances at OTE and Lincoln Park High School. The McDonald's All-American appeared in a video posted on the Instagram page of City Reapers alongside head coach Doug Martin, on Thursday.

The interviewer asked coach Martin if Thomas ever mentioned winning the MVP:

"He didn't." said Martin. " No, he didn't. He has never mentioned any individual accolades. Meleek has never mentioned to me, even when we are not seeing eye-to-eye, Meleek has never said to me 'hey Coach Doug, you're messing up my draft, you're messing up my McDonald's chances, you're messing up me being the MVP."

The interviewer also asked Meleek Thomas if he wanted to win the MVP and this is what the 6-foot-3 shooting guard replied:

"100%." Thomas said. "I always want to keep adding achievements to my resume. Just keep building it because at the end, I can't play basketball forever. So it's like what did you do with your time? Obviously, I want MVP, but I'm not reaching for it, I'm not forcing it. If it happens, it happens for the right reason. God's gonna present that to me, but I never brought it up for a reason."

Thomas' performances for the Lincoln Park High School have been phenomenal. He is averaging a double-double with 23.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.3 steals per contest. Additionally, the Pittsburgh, PA native led his team to consecutive 4A PIAA Championships in 2023 and 2024.

He also represented New Heights Lightining in the Nike EYBL, scoring 20.3 points, grabbing 5.1 rebounds and dishing out 2.4 assists in 27.0 minutes per contest. This season in OTE, Thomas posted averages of 27.7 points per game, 9.4 rebounds per game, 4.4 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game.

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Meleek Thomas selected for two prestigious tournaments

The Arkansas signee ranks at the 11th nationally and second in Georgia. On Jan. 27, On3's Joe Tipton announced that Meleek Thomas will be a part of the McDonald's All-American Game on April 1st at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

He is part of the West roster and will play alongside AJ Dybantsa, Koa Peat and Alijah Arenas, among others.

Thomas was also selected for the 2025 Iverson Classic, which will be held on May 3 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. While the complete roster is not out yet, he will be joined by top prospects, including Nate Ament and Darryn Peterson.

Meleek Thomas will be joined by 5-star Darius Acuff and 4-star Isaiah Sealy at Arkansas next season.