MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — When it became apparent Ahmad Thomas could be a college football player, the women closest to him were worried.
The first program he started talking about was Miami.
"We didn't want him to stay here," said Donnis Harris, Thomas' aunt. “We tried to show him that the people from Oklahoma really wanted him.”
Thomas has returned home as an Oklahoma football player and will start at safety against Clemson in Thursday's Orange Bowl (3 p.m., ESPN). His family-guided decision to leave south Florida for the Sooner State was about much more than feeling wanted.