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Florida State Dealt Unfortunate Recruiting News on Friday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated Jul 18, 2025 1:50 PM ET

Following a disappointing 2024 season, in which Florida State went 2-10 overall, head coach Mike Norvell has put in a tremendous amount of effort to help the team improve for future years.

A big part of that has been an impressive 2026 recruiting class, which has 21 commits. Rivals ranks No. 3 in the ACC and No. 14 nationally.

However, on Friday, that group took a pretty big hit, as running back Amari Thomas, who originally pledged himself to the program on Jan. 27, decommitted on Friday, meaning he's once again in search of a team to call home.

BREAKING: Four-Star RB Amari Thomas has Decommitted from Florida State, he tells me for @rivals

The 5’11 193 RB from Marianna, FL had been Committed to the Seminoles since January

He currently holds a total of 28 Offershttps://t.co/GruPLEwl1b pic.twitter.com/QdNNGeEaUQ
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) July 18, 2025

This kind of development is something the Seminoles didn't want to endure, as Rivals' rankings place Thomas as a four-star recruit, the No. 18 running back, the No. 25 player in Florida and the No. 185 player in the nation.

Last season, he was quite impressive for Marianna, racking up 1,880 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns on 153 carries while also having 14 receptions, 247 yards and three touchdowns.

The decommitment doesn't come as a huge surprise, though, because even though he was committed to Florida State, he took official visits with several other programs, including the South Carolina Gamecocks (May 30) and Kentucky Wildcats (June 14).

What makes this loss sting even worse for Florida State is that Thomas was the only running back it'd landed in this year's cycle, meaning it may be desperate to find a replacement.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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