Florida State Flips Three-Star Offensive Lineman Chavez 'Sandman' Thompson From FIU

The Seminoles have flipped an offensive lineman from an in-state program.

Chavez 'Sandman' Thompson/Twitter

Florida State isn't done with its 2025 high school recruiting class. The Seminoles hosted a trio of official visitors over the weekend, including three-star offensive lineman Chavez 'Sandman' Thompson, who entered the trip committed to FIU.

On Wednesday evening, Thompson announced he was flipping his pledge to Florida State following his experience in Tallahassee. He becomes the program's seventh addition along the offensive line to this point of the offseason.

Thompson initially committed to FIU earlier this month, weeks after picking up an offer from new head coach Willie Simmons. With that being said, his longtime relationship with offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and offensive line coach Herb Hand dating back to their time at UCF paid off in the end. Thompson actually took an official visit to the Knights last summer, meaning he has plenty of familiarity with his position coach at Florida State.

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During his senior season, the Florida native started at center for a Cocoa High School team that went 11-3 and defeated Gadsden County 38-27 in the state championship. He previously played at Eau Gallie High School, contributing at center, right guard, left guard, and right tackle. Thompson also wrestles and won a district championship as a sophomore. He'll be hoping to win a state title this spring.

Thompson was a high school teammate of FSU wide receiver signee and four-star recruit, Jayvan Boggs. During his senior season, Boggs set the state of Florida's single-game receiving record and came up just receiving yards (378) and came up just 26 yards short of the single-season state record.

The 6-foot-1, 310-pound offensive lineman is regarded as the No. 1089 overall prospect, the No. 73 IOL, and the No. 141 recruit in Florida in the 2025 class according to 247Sports.

With the addition of Thompson, Florida State is up to 39 newcomers in its 2025 class (23 high school/JUCO recruits, 16 transfers). The haul ranks No. 18 in the country.

Florida State has 11 scholarship offensive linemen eligible to return in 2025; redshirt senior Jacob Rizy, redshirt senior Richie Leonard IV, redshirt senior Bryson Estes, redshirt senior TJ Ferguson, redshirt junior Jaylen Early, redshirt sophomore Andre' Otto, redshirt sophomore Lucas Simmons, redshirt freshman Manasse Itete, redshirt freshman Jon Daniels, redshirt freshman Tye Helton, and redshirt freshman Jayden Todd.

The Seminoles signed four-star Mario Nash Jr. and three-star Sean Poret during the Early Signing Period. FSU also secured former Wake Forest center Luke Petitbon, former Ole Miss offensive tackle Micah Pettus, former Vanderbilt offensive tackle Gunnar Hansen, and former UCF offensive guard Adrian Medley through the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Last month the program officially announced the addition of new offensive line coach Herb Hand.

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