Earlier this month, Matthew Thomas, a five-star member of Florida State’s 2013 recruiting class, told the Miami Herald he would be seeking his release from his National Letter of Intent without ever playing a down for the Seminoles. Thomas added that FSU coaches did not want to release him and were planning on visiting him to try to talk things over.
On Tuesday during ACC meetings, FSU athletic director Randy Spetman confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat that the school had no intention of releasing Thomas, and that he would have to go through an NCAA appeals process if he wanted to get the decision overturned.
“You’d get into a situation where if you release him, then people would be doing that every year,” Spetman said. “We would be more than happy to release someone if there is a compelling reason.”
Finding one is probably going to be difficult for Thomas if he decides to go through the appeals process. Thomas said in a February interview with 247Sports that he originally planned to sign with USC, but his mother would not sign off on the NLI with the Trojans. So, Thomas signed with FSU instead, essentially at the request of his mother.
Thomas has expressed interested in transferring to either USC or Georgia.
So while “my mom made me do it” may not be a good enough reason to get Thomas his release, it is where the responsibility of this mess currently lies regardless of whether the mother’s intentions were legitimate, or something more insidious.