Former Tennessee Vols player who left the program named as an All-American in 2025
A former Tennessee Vols defender was named as an All-American in 2025.
A former Tennessee Vols defensive back who left the program following the 2024 season was named as an All-American this week.
Safety Jakobe Thomas, who started his career at Middle Tennessee State, spent the 2024 season at Tennessee before transferring to Miami earlier this spring.
Thomas ended up having a terrific season for the Hurricanes, totaling 48 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and four interceptions.
On3 named Thomas as a second-team All-American on Tuesday.
Why did Jakobe Thomas leave Tennessee?
Not retaining Thomas, who grew up rooting for Tennessee, ended up being a big misstep by the Volunteers.
Tennessee didn’t receive great safety play in 2025 — part of that was because of the Boo Carter drama (Carter was dismissed from the team in November). Thomas certainly would’ve been a key player for the Vols had he stayed in Knoxville for the 2025 season.
So why did Thomas leave?
The feeling is that Miami simply offered Thomas an NIL deal he couldn’t refuse.
Tennessee likely wasn’t in a position to match the deal after dishing out NIL cash to Carter and others.
Unfortunately, that’s one of the most difficult aspects of coaching in the NIL era — there’s often nothing a coach can do to keep another program from swiping a player via a big NIL deal.
Regardless of why Thomas left Tennessee, it’s clear the Vols would’ve been a better team with him on the roster in 2025.
Jakobe Thomas went viral this season for premature celebration
Thomas went viral early in the 2025 season for a premature celebration against Louisville.
The former Vol made a key tackle on a fake field goal attempt in Miami’s loss to Louisville in October. Thomas saved a touchdown on the play, which led to his celebration.
The only problem was that Louisville picked up a first down on the play, keeping the drive alive.
Louisville scored a touchdown on the next play.
Thomas and the Hurricanes will travel to College Station later this month to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
LSU Tigers News
The 3 jobs that could be threats to steal Lane Kiffin from the LSU Tigers in the future
Lane Kiffin has only been the head coach of the LSU Tigers for a few days, but some folks are already guessing what the next stop in his career will be. It’s possible that Kiffin could choose to stay at LSU until he retires from college football, but his career path suggests this isn’t his […]
