NFL Hires First Full-Time Female Official in Sarah Thomas

The NFL announced this morning nine new officials for the 2015 season, and the most notable of the group is Sarah Thomas, who is the first female who is a full-time part of an officiating crew and who will be a line judge in 2015.

Here's the list of the nine new officials:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nine new NFL officials, including Sarah Thomas, the first female to be assigned full-time to an NFL officiating crew. <a href="http://t.co/aCqpfsPoUf">pic.twitter.com/aCqpfsPoUf</a></p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/585807809800966144">April 8, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thomas started her career as an official at the high school level, but she has really impressed over the past eight seasons as a college official for Conference USA.  She has also worked some minicamps for NFL teams - including for the Indianapolis Colts in 2013.  During the Colts' three-day minicamp in June that summer, Thomas was one of the officials for the team for the event.  She has also served in similar roles during minicamps for the Browns and the Saints.

"I've always said that I've never been the one to set out and shatter a glass ceiling or anything like that. At the end of the day, I'm there to officiate," Thomas told Colts.com's Kevin Bowen after that Colts' minicamp in 2013.  This fall, she'll get to do just that at the highest level, as she was named the first full-time female official in the NFL.