Back When: Bryan Thomas takes UAB to the Big Apple

The first turning point in Bryan Thomas's football career happened on a schoolyard in Birmingham.

Thomas played running back on his pee-wee team, and in one particular game he got tackled so hard and so often by the same player that it brought him to tears. After the game, he looked up at his father.

"Daddy, what position does that guy play?"

"Linebacker," Stanley Thomas replied.

"From now on, Daddy, I'm a linebacker."

A defensive career was born.

Thomas wasn't an overnight sensation — he didn't turn too many heads as a 6-4, 208-pound linebacker/tight end at Minor High School. But he kept getting bigger, stronger and better. At UAB, he moved to defensive end, and by his junior year he was the bully — causing offensive linemen to quiver and quarterbacks to cringe.

He was a four-year starter, and by the time he was done, he had rewritten the record book. He finished with 35 career sacks — a school and Conference USA record that still stands — and 56 tackles for loss, third in C-USA history at the time. As a senior in 2001, he anchored a defensive front four nicknamed "The Steel Shield" that led the entire nation in rushing defense at 57.3 yards per game and ranked fifth nationally in total defense.

That defense was the driver behind everything. UAB was competitive right out of the gate in Conference USA, and the Steel Shield was the reason. In 2000, it powered the Blazers to an upset of LSU — the kind of win that put UAB on the map in a state where people thought the program didn't belong.

In Conference USA, Thomas was unblockable. Against Memphis, he simply broke the will of an overmatched left tackle, leaving him in emotional tatters.

"This guy has a special talent of getting to the quarterback," Jets coach Herman Edwards said.

He wasn't wrong. Thomas's NFL Combine performance pushed him from a projected mid-second-round pick into the first round: a 4.47-second 40-yard dash at 266 pounds, 33 bench press reps and a 34.5-inch vertical jump. His 10- and 20-yard dash times — 1.58 and 2.59 seconds — were comparable to Texas cornerback Quentin Jammer, the top corner in the draft. For a 265-pound defensive end, that's scary fast.

On April 20, 2002, the New York Jets selected Thomas with the 22nd overall pick — the first time a UAB Blazer had ever been taken in the first round. The program was just 11 years old. The Jets' internal draft board had Thomas rated higher than Syracuse's Dwight Freeney, who went 11th overall to Indianapolis.

"It was him. It wasn't close," Edwards said.

Jets fans at Madison Square Garden booed. They wanted a cornerback. UAB position coach Pat Donohoe had a message for them.

"I heard the New York fans say, 'We want a cornerback.' Well, you got a 265-pound guy who runs like a cornerback and eats quarterbacks for lunch."

When Edwards called Thomas to tell him he was the pick, Thomas didn't hesitate: "Don't worry, coach. I'm going to sack the quarterback for you."

Thomas idolized Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas. For him, quarterbacks were fast food — emphasis on "fast."

A round later, his Steel Shield linemate Eddie Freeman went No. 43 to the Kansas City Chiefs — giving UAB two NFL Draft picks in consecutive rounds from the same defensive line.

Thomas knew what it meant for the program.

"This is a great opportunity and a lot of exposure for UAB," he told the Birmingham News. "UAB is growing, and you have to give things a chance to grow. You just need some positive things."

Two months later, he signed a four-year, $6.6 million contract with $4 million in guaranteed bonuses.

"He has great speed," Jets personnel scout Dick Haley said. "And he's naturally strong, and he's quick and has good rush moves. He's got the tools and he uses them."

Thomas spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Jets — 157 games, 33.5 career sacks and 444 total tackles. He was part of the Jets defenses that reached back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2009 and 2010 under Rex Ryan. He's tied for sixth on the franchise's all-time list for longest-tenured players alongside names like Nick Mangold, Wayne Chrebet and Joe Klecko.

And the story didn't end there. Bryan Thomas Jr. — a defensive end at South Carolina — recently signed as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The younger Thomas had a breakout senior season in 2025: seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and 41 tackles.

Before the draft, the Jets had hosted Thomas Jr. for a one-on-one meeting at South Carolina's pro day — a full-circle moment that would have been too perfect. He'll start his NFL journey in Jacksonville instead, but the Thomas family legacy in professional football is alive and well.

A Birmingham kid who stayed home, played at UAB and gave the program its first real claim to legitimacy. And now his son is following him into the league. That's a Blazer story worth telling.