Texas Adds Defensive Analyst Joey Thomas To Football Staff

The Longhorns have added a former pupil of Pete Kwiatkowski to the defensive staff

AUSTIN - The Texas Longhorns have made significant changes to their football staff over the last few months, in both on-the-field and off-the-field roles.

Arguably the most significant changes have been on the offensive side of the ball where head coach Steve Sarkisian has hired a new running backs coach in Tashard Choice, and a new wide receivers coach in Brennan Marion. 

Brennan Marion
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And on Monday, Sarkisian has reportedly added another new name to the staff, only this time, on the defensive side of the ball, hiring former Florida Atlantic assistant Joey Thomas as a defensive analyst. 

A former player under current Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski at Montana State, Thomas played cornerback in the Bobcats defensive scheme, before going on to be a third-round selection of the Green Bay Packers in the 2004 NFL Draft.

Thomas also spent time with the New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Edmonton Eskimos (CFL), Miami Dolphins, and Oakland Raiders as a player. 

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After spending time in the high school ranks as a coach, Thomas moved on to the college level in 2019 at Fort Scott Junior College, before moving to Florida Atlantic in 2020 as an analyst. After a year as an analyst, Thomas was promoted to wide receivers coach. 

Thomas is the second new name the Longhorns have added to the defensive staff, following the hiring of former TCU head coach Gary Patterson last month. 


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Published
Matt Galatzan
MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.