Star Baylor football defender set to enter the transfer portal

The transfer portal can giveth and it can also taketh. As of now, the Bears are losing a lot of players to the portal, and on Monday afternoon, a big one announced his intention to leave.

Star linebacker Keaton Thomas has announced he intends to enter the transfer portal after two strong seasons in Waco. He will join both Phoenix Jackson and Jeremy Evans as LBs who played this past season, but plan on leaving the Bears.

It sounded hopeful that Baylor would retain Thomas following the hiring of Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman. During his press conference, Klanderman said the first person he reached out to was Thomas and that talks were promising.

BREAKING: Baylor standout LB Keaton Thomas is entering the @TransferPortal, @On3Sports has learned

Through 2 seasons he’s totaled 205 Tackles, 3.5 Sacks, 3 PD, & 2 INT

Immediately becomes one of the Top Portal LBs

He’s repped by @YMAPAAsports https://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/nwz9Um36au
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 22, 2025

Thomas' history at Baylor

The 6-foot-2, 229-pound linebacker came to Baylor from Northeast Mississippi CC. He originally committed to WVU, but took the JUCO route before heading to Waco. It can't be overstated how important Thomas was for Baylor.

While the Bears' defense wasn't very good, it wasn't due to Thomas.

In 2024, Thomas was one of the top LBs in all of college football. Going down as one of the best seasons in Baylor history, Thomas recorded 114 tackles, seven for a loss, with 2.5 sacks, three QB hurries and an interception returned 35 yards for a TD -- while having four games with over 10 tackles.

Then this year, in 12 games, Thomas recorded a team-high 105 tackles. Thomas had seven TFLs, and one sack to go along with his tackles.

Here is a list of Thomas' accomplishments:

• Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List
• Butkus Award Watch List
• Preseason Fourth-Team All-America (Athlon, Phil Steele)
• Preseason All-Big 12 (Big 12 Media)• Preseason First-Team All-Big 12 (Athlon, Phil Steele)
• Preseason First-Team All-Texas (DCTF)

Baylor will need to do whatever it takes to get Thomas back into the fold, but as of now, that doesn't look likely. Following a disappointing 5-7 season, Dave Aranda will have his hands full building a competitive roster for 2026. But he was brought back for roster retention and keeping the 2026 recruiting class together -- neither are coming to fruition as of now.

Thomas' history at Baylor

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