Vols 'exceed' Jourdan Thomas' expectations by showing off culture
Mississippi State commit Jourdan Thomas kept up with Tennessee on television over the first month of the season.
So when Thomas made his way up to Knoxville earlier this month for the Vols’ game against South Carolina, he just wanted to see how everybody interacted with one another in person. The defensive back from Montgomery, Alabama liked what he saw.
“The atmosphere was good,” Thomas told VolQuest. “I loved everything about it. Being there in the front row, feeling everything, seeing how they break the huddle, how they warm up and stuff like that, I just wanted to see if I could be apart of it.
“I definitely liked what I saw. It exceeded my expectations. It was great.”
Culture is important to Thomas. His high school team at Montgomery Catholic has a great culture and he wants that once again in whatever school he ends up attending.
“I want a great culture in college,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be the most important part in my decision. I feel like there’s great people and coaches up there and that I’ll be good if I go there.”
Thomas has been hearing from Auburn of late, but has only visited Tennessee and Mississippi State to this point in the season. His visit to see the Vols beat South Carolina put Josh Heupel’s program right up there with the Bulldogs.
“(Tennessee is) definitely at the top,” Thomas said. “It’s just them (and Mississippi State) right now.
“It’s my senior year so I’m just taking it slow . I don’t really know when I’ll make a final decision. We’ll see.”
Thomas committed to Mississippi State back on April 12. The relationships he’s formed with Tennessee’s coaches, however, as well as some of the Vols' current defensive backs, have played a huge role in the Vols entering the picture.
“Coach Heupel is a busy man, but he’ll just come out of nowhere and hug up on you,” Thomas said. “He’s a great coach and I feel like ever since he got there and the new staff got there that Tennessee is going to take a turn for the best. I feel like they’re going to do great things in the future and when they get a new recruiting class — and they’re doing good things now, and they’ve got guys now — but when they get more recruiting classes in there I believe that program is going to change for the good.
“I feel like they’re great coaches and they can develop me into a great first round defensive back.”
Tennessee likes Thomas’ versatility at 6-foot, 188 lbs. The Vols aren’t recruiting him to play just one position, but rather as a versatile defensive back that can play anywhere in the secondary.
“Tennessee doesn’t really recruit DBs that play just one position,” Thomas said. “They want versatile DBs that can play in the whole secondary and they feel like I can play everywhere and do a lot of things for them.
“My primary position is safety so they said I can play some STAR, play some corner. Honestly, Coach Banks literally told me if you’re better at corner, you’re going to play corner. If you’re better at STAR or safety, then that’s what you’re going to play. So I think whenever I were to get there, they would move me around a good bit to get me wherever I’m best at. I like that.”
Thomas received an offer from the Vols on May 19 and first unofficially visited Tennessee on June 26.