The way Greg Thomas sees it, his career-ending injury begot next weekend’s ironic matchup: His son, Broncos tight end Julius Thomas, against his former offensive coordinator, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
Greg was coming off a banner season at wide receiver, and Carroll wanted to move him to H-back in the spring of his junior year at Pacific University. Carroll wanted to create one-on-one mismatches, and prepare Thomas for the NFL. One spring practice in 1983, as Greg was blocking, his right leg got caught between teammates, tearing his ACL and MCL. He never played again.
“If it wasn’t for Pete, [I would’ve] stayed at split end, went into the league. Life takes a different path,” Greg, the principal at West Campus High School in Sacramento, recalled with a hearty laugh. “My boy probably wouldn’t have been born. All these years I’ve been asking myself, ‘Why?’ Now I see why it all happened.”
Greg said he didn’t hold any ill will against Carroll for the position change — “I was out there killing. I’d never seen single coverage before,” he remembered fondly — and remains friendly with the coach.
“I always look at things as God’s plan,” Greg said during a phone interview. “That’s why I don’t hold grudges.”
Instead of going onto the NFL, he married Toria Wyrick. Julius was born five years later and Greg became an educator.
Julius played Pop Warner football growing up, but basketball was his passion. He landed a Division I scholarship to Portland State and was a four-year contributor as a 6-foot-5 power forward, setting program records in career games played (121), career wins (78) and career field goals percentage (66.3), leading Portland State to a pair of NCAA Tournaments.
“He was relentless every single game,” Portland State coach Tyler Geving said by phone. “You never had to worry if he was going to bring it or play hard. He’d go in there and throw his body around. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up with anybody.
“I remember when I was recruiting him, I saw him play an AAU game against the Lopez twins, [Brook and Robin]. He’s 6-5 and those guys are 7-foot. He didn’t back down to those guys. He did really well in that game.”
When Julius’ eligibility was up, he gave football a shot. Portland State coach Nigel Burton joked all Julius knew how to do was catch. But he learned quickly, soaking up knowledge like a sponge, always asking the staff for more he could do, and earning All-Big Sky Conference honors.
Julius parlayed one impressive season into a shot in the NFL with the Broncos, who made him a fourth-round pick in the 2011 draft. He broke out this year, hauling in 65 receptions for 788 yards and 12 touchdowns, and is one win shy of an NFL title.
Now, in the biggest game of his life, he’s facing his father’s old coach.
“It’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ This is unreal,” Greg said, laughing. “You couldn’t write up a better movie script. Oh my goodness. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
“Like I was telling my buddy, if Julius does something great in the game to allow the Broncos to win the game, it’s going to be Carroll’s own fault that he lost. If it wasn’t for Carroll, Julius wouldn’t have been born.”