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Thomas Answers The Call For Seminoles

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

TALLAHASSEE For more than a week, Jermaine Thomas waited for a call. Any call.

It was the middle of August, in the middle of two-a-days, and the freshman running back was back home in Jacksonville wondering whether he would be on the 2008 Florida State roster.

Due to a high school transcript issue, the talented Thomas had been informed he was not allowed to practice with his teammates until the problem was resolved.

Initially he had been confident the issue would be corrected quickly, but then the wait began. One day. Then two. Then five. And still no word.

"I was devastated," Thomas said. "A lot of tossing and turning. A lot of praying. Grandmother, grandfather, pops, coming over to the house — all in the living room praying, just trying to work this thing out."

Finally, after more than a week of waiting, the phone rang.

"My father called me and said, 'Hey buddy, you're clear,'" Thomas said. "And I was like, 'Thank you, Lord.' The next day we got back up here soon as I can and came back to practice ready to go."

Two weeks later, on the seventh carry of his college career, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound speedster had found the end zone on a slicing, cut-back run of 12 yards.

"Oh, that was a real, real good moment for me," he said. "I just wanted to act like I had class, but deep down inside I was very excited."

Eight minutes later he was diving over the goal-line on a 5-yard touchdown run. All told, the freshman rushed for a team-high 91 yards on 13 carries in the Seminoles' 69-0 rout of Western Carolina.

Not a bad debut. Especially for a rookie who, until the phone rang with that good news on that August day, wasn't sure whether he'd be making a debut at all.

"I was kind of down and depressed," Thomas said. "But I stayed in my playbook a little bit.

"I was just waiting on the transcripts or whatnot to get settled. [It was] a little data error. We got it fixed. Got back up here, started off a little rusty, but bounced back."

Though he remained hopeful that the error would get resolved, he also had plenty of time to think about what would happen if it didn't.

"Actually if the phone call would have never come, I would've had to re-take the ACT and then I would've had to come back in January," Thomas said, shaking his head. "I didn't want that to happen.

"But yeah, I waited on that phone call. It was just one of the happiest days of my life."

Saturday night had to be right up there, too.

Against the Catamounts, Thomas tied a school record (along with former Seminole running back Dee Feaster) for the most rushing yards in a debut by a true freshman.

"He did a real good job," Coach Bobby Bowden said. "That's got to happen right now with all the kids we have suspended, then your injuries. Somebody has to step up. He did a real good job."

It wasn't a surprise to freshman linebacker Nigel Carr, who graduated from First Coast with Thomas.

"He did the same thing in high school he's doing right now," Carr said. "I expected that. That's Jermaine. That's how he runs the ball."

And after that mid-August scare, the fact that he's running the ball at all — much less scoring multiple touchdowns in his college debut — is reason enough to celebrate.

"You don't understand how I feel, man," Thomas laughed. "I just want to keep on working. I want to impress the coaches and help my teammates."

Corey Clark

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