The big news around the football team recently is the return of Jermaine Thomas to practice yesterday. While he did run drills, he was wearing a no-contact jersey and practiced merely to test his knee which was bruised against Clemson, sidelining him for the past three games.
Thomas said his knee felt good after practice and he’d love to get in even more work in the next few practices, “The knee really didn’t give me any problem; didn’t feel any pain or anything. I’m excited to be back out there and be part of the team again.”
While Thomas has been working hard to rejoin the team (and was close to returning for the ACC Championship Game a few weeks ago), his status for the Chick-fil-A Bowl Game is still up in the air.
The fact that Thomas has returned to practice with two weeks to go before the bowl game is a good sign for Seminole fans. Thomas has been the leading running back this season (even though the Noles have used several backs all year long). Thomas has recorded 484 yards in 12 games played this season and has the most touchdowns of any rusher (6). Thomas is averaging 5.7 yards per rush with a longest run of 70 yards.
While his overall total yards and average yards per rush are lower than Chris Thompson’s and Ty Jones’ totals, Thomas has been the starter through the Seminoles’ regular season and has generally been accepted as the Noles’ “workhorse” back. After Thomas went down, the Noles have split time between Jones and Thompson while also calling on fullback Lonnie Pryor.
Having Thomas back would not only bring back FSU’s starting running back but would also give the Noles more depth at the position. Earlier in the season, the Noles started Thomas while inserting Thompson who has the ability to break off long runs (as we’ve seen). When Thomas was out, Thompson was relied on to be the Noles’ main rusher which took away part of his ability to come off the bench and spark the offense with a big run.
The next few weeks of practices will be key for Thomas in knowing if he’s ready to return for the game, but from the looks of things, FSU fans have reason to be hopeful to see #38 in the starting rotation on December 31.
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