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Joe Thomas Award winner Bunker opens camp with Navy
Badger legend inducted into NFL Hall of Fame
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Joe Thomas, left, was recently inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame. Isaac Bunker, right, received the Joe Thomas Award, which honors Wisconsin’s top senior offensive lineman. The two are pictured at the national sports card show in, held in March at Chicago.

ANNAPOLIS — Monroe graduate Isaac Bunker has enjoyed the opening weeks of fall football camp at Navy. The all-state offensive lineman helped the Cheesemakers to an unbeaten record last fall, winning the state championship and was named the state’s top offensive lineman — an award named for former Wisconsin and Cleveland Browns lineman Joe Thomas. Thomas was recently inducted this past week into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Thomas was a 2003 Brookfield Central standout, and a standout player in football, basketball and track and field. He played four seasons for the Wisconsin Badgers, earning first-team All-American honors and was the Outland Trophy winner for the nation’s top interior lineman. He also threw shot put and discus for the Badgers, earning All-Big Ten Conference honors in 2005. 

A 6-6, 312-pound offensive tackle, Thomas was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, heading to Cleveland, where he excelled for a decade. He retired on March 14, 2018. The next year, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Thomas is currently an analyst for the NFL Network. Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Bunker, a 6-3, 285-pound lineman, will wear No. 53 for Navy. He is the only member of head coach Brian Newberry’s team from the state of Wisconsin. Newberry is in his first year as head coach. The Navy Midshipmen open their season against Notre Dame on Saturday, Aug. 26 in Dublin, Ireland.