Senior Profile: Familiarity key for grad transfer Thomas
Previous: Chris Platt | Xavier Jones | Blake Blackmar | Jamie Jacobs | Greg Roberts | Patrick Lawrence | Josh Malin | Drew Galitz | Verkedric Vaughns | Christian Beard | Trevor White | Jalan McClendon
Graduate transfer Derrek Thomas is no stranger to Matt Rhule, Phil Snow or Fran Brown. The four worked together at Temple and won the American Athletic Conference Championship in 2016. Thomas has played in 26 career games with three starts before graduating in December of 2017 and transferring to Baylor.
In 2017 as a redshirt junior in his last season at Temple, Thomas played in seven games with one start, recording his first career interception and returning it 83 yards in a contest at Tulsa.
As a redshirt sophomore in 2016, Thomas played in all 13 games with 2 starts. During this season, he made the transition from wide receiver to cornerback. He recorded 29 tackles, with 22 solo stops, and had seven passes defended.
Thomas used his redshirt in the 2015 season while in 2014 he played six games and was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
Coming out of Bishop Maginn High School, Thomas played both wide receiver and cornerback, and was a New York State Hall of Fame scholar-athlete. He also played basketball and ran track.
Thomas is from Albany, New York, and is pursuing his Masters Degree in Sport Pedagogy.
Antonia’s Thoughts: I see Thomas as one of the most valuable assets Baylor has on and off the field. He is familiar with the staff and his defensive playbook and can get help the younger players as needed. I see him being a very valuable player in terms of being someone that the younger guys rely on to really understand the method to Rhule’s process as he’s witnessed it and played through it already. This is priceless experience.
I also see Thomas' experience and maturity to really help the depth chart at cornerback. Grayland Arnold and Jameson Houston are the two other veterans as juniors, but the rest of the group is made up of sophomores and freshmen (Harrison Hand, Raleigh Texada, Byron Hanspard Jr., and Mark Milton). I expect Thomas to play some serious minutes, possibly start, and make this last year of eligibility count in a big way.