Gifted Hurricanes WR Jeff Thomas speaks publicly on why he returned to UM from Illinois

When University of Miami coach Manny Diaz tweeted a GIF in mid-January of a swirling Hurricane, followed by a GIF of the late musician Prince holding up four fingers — as in (at that point) former UM No. 4 Jeff Thomas — astute fans immediately knew what it meant.

Thomas, a talent who had been dismissed Thanksgiving week by former head coach Mark Richt and was about to transfer to Illinois to play for his home-state Illini, was back.

The gifted, lightning-fast 5-10, 180-pound junior wide receiver, who by far led UM in receiving despite leaving before the end of the 2018 season, spoke to the media Tuesday for the first time since making the decision to return to the Hurricanes.

Why did he return?

“To just finish what I started,’’ he said, “because I made a commitment that I was going to come here my freshman year. I just wanted things to be great again.”

Thomas said Diaz called him and told him he “still had a spot here.”

“I wanted to take that advantage again like I did my freshman year when they offered me in the first place. I wanted to keep that tradition going.”

When Thomas was dismissed on Nov. 21, Richt said in a statement that UM had “high standards for excellence, for conduct and for the commitment to team for all of the young men who wear our uniforms, and we will not waver from those standards. We wish Jeff the very best as he moves forward in his journey.’’

UM had benched Thomas for the first two series of the previous weekend’s game Nov. 17 against Virginia Tech because Miami wanted to hold him accountable for not taking care of business off the field, according to a player on last year’s team.

Said Diaz on Tuesday: “Jeff has responded well. And it’s not just in terms of what happens here on the field. It’s his presence in the weight room, it’s his presence in the training room. Part of this job is we’re trying to raise these guys and we’re trying to teach them how to be a man and how to be accountable.

“They all arrive here at different levels of that, and so that’s one part that we take very seriously. You want to see the guys leave in a better place than when they came here and I think Jeff has a chance to do that.

“Without getting into the detail of how we do things, he understands that there’s a consistent structure and he knows exactly where the lines are drawn and any crossing of the line results in this and if you walk the line it results in that. So this is beyond Jeff. What all children want from their parents and what all players want from their coaches [is] they want a strict set of guidelines. They want to know that the goal posts don’t change day to day and they want to know that there’s also accountability for their actions.”

The soft-spoken Thomas indicated his return has been a gratifying one.

“Everybody showed me love like I never left,’’ Thomas said. “It felt good. I’m responding really well. I’m taking coaching every day, fixing my mistakes on and off the field so I could be a great player.’’

When asked how Diaz’s heart-to-heart with him about discipline helped him in his decision to return, Thomas said, “I just wanted to seize the opportunity. Everybody messes up. Everybody’s not perfect. So, you just have to fix that and that’s what he told me he was going to do.’’

He said Diaz told him to “handle my business like a grown man should, because that’s what he’s trying to do.’’

Thomas said “The New Miami,’’ Diaz’s slogan for 2019, means to him that “everybody’s having fun, everybody’s coming together as a team again. It’s really great.’’

On the field, there’s no question Thomas is a national talent.

Thomas arrived in Coral Gables as a top 50 national recruit, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, and became an immediate contributor. As a freshman in 2017, Thomas played in 13 games, logging 17 catches for 374 yards and two touchdowns. He followed it up with a strong sophomore campaign in 2018 — in 11 games, Thomas caught 35 passes for 563 yards and three touchdowns, plus a 19-yard run — but the Hurricanes booted him from the program before the regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Thomas also had 10 kick returns in 2018 for 260 yards, a 26-yard average that would have been tied for seventh in the country if he had enough returns to qualify for the NCAA’s FBS leaderboard. And he had nine punt returns for 221 yards and a touchdown, a 24.6-yard average that would have led the nation if he had enough returns to qualify.

“Jeff has tons of tools. He really does,’’ UM receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield said Tuesday. “Talent wise, athletic ability wise, he’s up there. He’s fast, he’s quick, he has a good frame to him. With our offense and what we do, you gotta be detailed in what you do. He’s continuing to learn the skill part of the position, the detail part of the position.

“We don’t have an offense where you just run to an area or try to find an open space. You really do have to understand who you’re attacking, understand what the defense is trying to do to really maximize what this offense can do. So his ability his high, we just gotta continue to work the skill part of the position.”

What does Thomas’ return mean for the UM offense?

“Well, obviously Jeff’s explosion,’’ Diaz said, “and what he can do, No. 1, in terms of being a threat down the field and blowing the top off the coverage. And secondly, what he can do in terms of taking a short play and turning it into an explosive play. He has shown in the ACC the last couple of years to be one of the top guys at that skill.

“So, we’ll have a lot of different ways of trying to get him the ball and he’s learning all that type of stuff and he’s learning some things in terms of his route running and things we really think that can take him to the next level.”

Thomas, who missed part of last week’s first scrimmage with a hamstring issue but practiced Tuesday, said he’s now working on “Keeping my eyes on the ball more, because sometimes I’ll be looking away from the ball.’’

He said he’s mostly looking forward to “being on the field with my teammates, playing football again with them, because everybody missed me. They were blowing up my phone, my [direct messages], and saying, ‘Come back. Come back.’

“So, I just wanted to take that advantage again.’’

This story was originally published April 9, 2019 at 2:11 PM.