Thomas Announces He’s Played His Last Game as a Ute

The tumultuous career of Tavion Thomas has come to an end at the University of Utah. On Friday, he announced his intentions to declare for the NFL Draft:

Thomas provided the Utah football program with a memorable last half of the 2021 season as he played in 12 games, rushing 204 times for 1108 yards and 21 touchdowns. He averaged 5.3 YPC.

Thomas chose to forgo entering last year’s draft and returned to Utah. At the time, it was a big win for the Utes. Unfortunately, Thomas’ weight would reportedly go up to 250+ pounds in the offseason, he was disciplined multiple times by the team starting back to spring ball and it continued throughout the 2022 season.

During the 2022 season, he played sporadically in 10 games with 142 carries for 687 yards, 4.8 YPC and 7 touchdowns.

The announcement from Thomas comes two weeks after he opened up about his recent challenges.

“It’s been challenging, but you can’t run from it; you have to attack it,” said Thomas. “I’ve got these great guys right here, a great support system here. They got me back right slowly but surely, right now I'm focused on getting back with these guys and finishing this whole season out — trying to repeat back-to-back championships.”

At the same press conference, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham also spoke of the situation.

“For a while there was a couple steps forward and then three steps backwards. There were some bumps in the road there,” said Whittingham. “Tavion’s in a really good place right now. We’re really grateful that he continued to stick with it and fight through the issues they were having. We didn’t give up on him either.”

This latest development brings an end to a Utah career that once saw an endless amount of promise, yet never got fully fulfilled.