Baylor Football
With Baylor’s hire of former Temple offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas as the quarterbacks coach, Baylor now boasts a staff with 27 of NFL coaching experience and 146 years in the collegiate circuit.
Thomas brings along seven years of that NFL experience that has fans excited about that next-level mentality. But in an interview with ESPN Central Texas on Thursday, Thomas was sure to keep the focus on the scheme, not his NFL experience building players like 2016 NFL MVP Matt Ryan.
“NFL football’s different. The defenses just play different,” Thomas said. “It’s a unique challenge of ‘How can I implement some of the things we did in the NFL to this scheme?’ That’s kinda what we’re working on now and tried to do at Temple the last couple of years.”
As someone whose job revolves around coaching quarterbacks, it might surprise some to hear Thomas say he’s focused on running the ball like he did with coach Matt Rhule at Temple. Thomas said this is a stubborn team and staff which wants to be “physical and run the ball.”
That’s been his philosophy as long as he’s been coaching including his successful reign at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas from 2005-07 as offensive coordinator. In his final year, the team led the entire NCAA with 550 yards per game, the bulk coming from 317 yards rushing on average.
With Baylor’s offense in the hands of offensive coordinators Matt Lubick and Jeff Nixon as well as Rhule calling the shots, how all their schemes blend together will make for an original system.
“With Coach Lubick and some of the stuff they’ve done at Oregon and implement some of that spread stuff with some NFL mentality, I think it will be a unique scheme,” Thomas said.
For Thomas, that starts with building the offense behind center between either Arizona grad transfer Anu Solomon or sophomore Zach Smith. Even Lake Travis product Charlie Brewer could get in the mix as a freshman.
“I’ve been around them the last week or so. I’ve been impressed by their work ethic and they seem to have great leadership,” Thomas said. “They obviously want to compete…to be winners.”
While it might seem whoever’s chosen as quarterback will have a different role compared to the past gunslingers in Waco, Baylor predominantly ran the ball despite the nation’s inverse perception. It will be on Thomas’ shoulders to make sure that misperception continues to keep defenses on their toes, something he overwhelmingly accomplished with Temple in 2016 as the offensive coordinator.
Temple improved its average yardage by nearly 50 yards after Thomas’ promotion from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator leaning predominantly on running the ball. Despite rushing 40 times per game, quarterback P.J. Walker still threw for a career-best 3,295 yards and 22 touchdowns while throwing 28 fewer passes than his junior season.
Thomas also helped improve Walker’s average attempt from 6.9 yards to 8.3 yards. That bodes well for Baylor considering Smith averaged 7.8 yards last season while Solomon’s average in 2015 was 8.1 yards. If the hybrid offense Lubick brings together with Rhule and Nixon comes together, it wouldn’t be unheard of to get back to nine yards per attempt to remain competitive in shootouts with the Big 12’s predominantly Air Raid offenses.
But don’t let one more addition to the staff distract from this being a team rebuilding effort. As Thomas said: “We’re Team Baylor.”
Rhule's hire of QB coach Thomas was more than NFL experience
Listen to David Smoak's full interview with Thomas.
With Baylor’s hire of former Temple offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas as the quarterbacks coach, Baylor now boasts a staff with 27 of NFL coaching experience and 146 years in the collegiate circuit.
Thomas brings along seven years of that NFL experience that has fans excited about that next-level mentality. But in an interview with ESPN Central Texas on Thursday, Thomas was sure to keep the focus on the scheme, not his NFL experience building players like 2016 NFL MVP Matt Ryan.
“NFL football’s different. The defenses just play different,” Thomas said. “It’s a unique challenge of ‘How can I implement some of the things we did in the NFL to this scheme?’ That’s kinda what we’re working on now and tried to do at Temple the last couple of years.”
As someone whose job revolves around coaching quarterbacks, it might surprise some to hear Thomas say he’s focused on running the ball like he did with coach Matt Rhule at Temple. Thomas said this is a stubborn team and staff which wants to be “physical and run the ball.”
With Coach Lubick and some of the stuff they’ve done at Oregon and implement some of that spread stuff with some NFL mentality, I think it will be a unique scheme.
That’s been his philosophy as long as he’s been coaching including his successful reign at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas from 2005-07 as offensive coordinator. In his final year, the team led the entire NCAA with 550 yards per game, the bulk coming from 317 yards rushing on average.
With Baylor’s offense in the hands of offensive coordinators Matt Lubick and Jeff Nixon as well as Rhule calling the shots, how all their schemes blend together will make for an original system.
“With Coach Lubick and some of the stuff they’ve done at Oregon and implement some of that spread stuff with some NFL mentality, I think it will be a unique scheme,” Thomas said.
For Thomas, that starts with building the offense behind center between either Arizona grad transfer Anu Solomon or sophomore Zach Smith. Even Lake Travis product Charlie Brewer could get in the mix as a freshman.
“I’ve been around them the last week or so. I’ve been impressed by their work ethic and they seem to have great leadership,” Thomas said. “They obviously want to compete…to be winners.”
While it might seem whoever’s chosen as quarterback will have a different role compared to the past gunslingers in Waco, Baylor predominantly ran the ball despite the nation’s inverse perception. It will be on Thomas’ shoulders to make sure that misperception continues to keep defenses on their toes, something he overwhelmingly accomplished with Temple in 2016 as the offensive coordinator.
Temple improved its average yardage by nearly 50 yards after Thomas’ promotion from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator leaning predominantly on running the ball. Despite rushing 40 times per game, quarterback P.J. Walker still threw for a career-best 3,295 yards and 22 touchdowns while throwing 28 fewer passes than his junior season.
Thomas also helped improve Walker’s average attempt from 6.9 yards to 8.3 yards. That bodes well for Baylor considering Smith averaged 7.8 yards last season while Solomon’s average in 2015 was 8.1 yards. If the hybrid offense Lubick brings together with Rhule and Nixon comes together, it wouldn’t be unheard of to get back to nine yards per attempt to remain competitive in shootouts with the Big 12’s predominantly Air Raid offenses.
But don’t let one more addition to the staff distract from this being a team rebuilding effort. As Thomas said: “We’re Team Baylor.”
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