There has been plenty of buzz surrounding five-star 2018 defensive end Xavier Thomas on the recruiting trail, even as the senior standout is verbally committed to Clemson. Some of the whispers increased in volume recently to the point that Thomas felt compelled to address them head-on via Twitter.
Now, it is Thomas' own father, Ezra Titus Thomas, that is pouring fuel on the fire. In a Facebook post on Monday, the elder Thomas wrote the following about his son and the desire to take official visits to programs like Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State.
Over the past couple of weeks my son and I have been talking in depth about reopening his recruitment in order to conduct all five of his official visits. As a parent I believe that as a athlete of his stature and with so many options available to him. He is placing himself at a disadvantage by NOT taking advantage of his official visits. The only true way to know for a fact that Clemson is the BEST program for him is to visit the other college programs such as USC, Ohio State, Alabama and Florida State. Primarily because he has NOT visited some of these programs at all. Which sincerely concerns me. THEN and ONLY THEN should he make his decision based off of his own personal research and knowledge. NOT off what someone else is telling him.
YES! I have from day one encouraged him to remain in state and invest his all to our Home State of South Carolina. Hence his initial commitment to play in state for either our Gamecocks or the Clemson Tigers. BUT this is not about what I want nor will it ever be. I am simply striving to guide my Son in the best possible manner to ensure that he is absolutely certain about his decisions and achieves the greatest possible results through those decisions. Also that he is making those decisions based off of factual information and NOT a recruiting sale pitch.
Za, has made it passionately clear that his heart is with Clemson and that he IS very much "ALL IN". His willingness to still do the official visits at my desire speaks volumes to me of his character and the strength of his resolve. He may decide to respect my concerns and still take advantage of his official visits. But I will not ask that of him nor demand it of him. He and I have agreed that he will not be decommiting his verbal commitment from Clemson. There is no doubt in my heart nor mind about his commitment to play at Clemson and I will support that commitment completely without any complaint.
Therefore, I will carry the responsibility for all of the controversy regarding my Son's verbal commitment and his recruitment status. He is a great kid only doing what he has been told by his parents. Thank you. God Bless!
In the end, he declared that Xavier is "all in" at Clemson, but this isn't exactly the firmest commitment in the history of recruiting. Given that Xavier Thomas is a consensus top-five recruit, it seems like a lock that this will be a story line worth monitoring in the coming days and, as any follower of recruiting knows, nothing is official until there is a letter of intent signed.
