NFL Career News: All Boy's League to Hire First Female Game Official Sarah Thomas

The NFL has hired Sarah Thomas as its first female game official, Aaron Wilson with the Baltimore Sun reported.

In 2007, Thomas became the first female to officiate an NCAA football game and has remained on the league's radar for some time.

"She came highly recommended by two NFL scouts," ex-NFL referee Gerry Austin told the Associated Press in 2007. "She has a good presence and demeanor. I feel like she has the ability and courage to make a call, and the guts to not make one, too."

In 2009, Thomas worked the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Two years later, she officiated a Rice-Northwestern Game.

The NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino had said in 2013 that although "she was in our pipeline for a while," it still takes time for officials to adjust from NCAA to NFL.

"It's similar from when a players jumps from college to the NFL," Blandino added. "Getting used to that type of speed is important."

Thomas agreed with the VP's assessment, stating, "The speed, yes, is there. These are just phenomenal athletes on both sides of the ball. The game has a tendency to slow down the most snaps you get and repetition. So, hopefully, the more snaps I get, things will start slowing down a little bit."

Thomas has some level of NFL experience. Before she landed this job, she worked in the league's preseason games and training camps. Although Thomas will be the first female full-time game official to be hired on the NFL level, she will not be the first woman to officiate an NFL game. During the 2012 season, Shannon Eastin took over as a replacement ref.

The NFL has not confirmed the news.