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Miami Hurricanes Land Former Tennessee Safety Jakobe Thomas In Boost To Secondary

On3 imageby: Matt Shodell05/01/25canesport
Jakobe Thomas, Tennessee Football | Tennessee Athletics
Jakobe Thomas, Tennessee Football | Tennessee Athletics

Former Tennessee Volunteers safety Jakobe Thomas is a Miami Hurricane, giving the team a much-needed safety in the second portal window considering the main safeties on the spring roster were career backup Markeith Williams, inexperienced second-year Dylan Day and first portal window addition Zechariah Poyser, from Jacksonville State.

Thomas visited Miami April 30 and was wowed by what he saw.

“I love it down here,” he said. “It’s Miami. … They win down here. That’s the biggest thing for me. Coach Cristobal is really big on culture, and I want to be a part of something that’s great. I think he has something going down here, so why not?”

In his lone season with the Volunteers, the 6-2, 210-pound Thomas appeared in all 13 of Tennessee’s games. He tallied 22 tackles, two pass deflections, and a sack. Before his time in Knoxville, Thomas spent three seasons at Middle Tennessee State, including a redshirt year. He saw action in 24 games with 13 starts during his career as a Blue Raider, totaling 108 tackles, four interceptions, eight pass breakups, and two forced fumbles.

Miami beat out FSU for the former Volunteer defensive back who played high school football at Tullahoma (TN), where he was an unranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

Per Pro Football Focus he played 263 reps last season and graded out at 68.5 percent (73.6 run defense, 54.0 tackle, 77.3 pass rush, 64.9 cover). He was noted with six missed tackles and when targeted in the passing game allowed six receptions on eight passes for 103 yards.

Now it’s on to Miami.

“We don’t have a lot of experience in the back end, have a lot of young, talented guys,” Thomas said. “Not a lot of snaps have been played. So being able to come in and share some of the knowledge I’ve got, how I see everything in the game (can help).”

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