Former Ravens RB coach thriving in current Job at his alma mater

When Thomas Hammock left the Ravens in 2019 to become head football coach at his alma mater, Northern Illinois University, his bosses in Baltimore had high expectations.

“He’s a very good coach that understands offense, both the pass game and the run game. He has done an excellent job of recruiting undrafted college free agents, one of which is Gus Edwards [Ravens running back],” said Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore Ravens General Manager and Executive Vice President, when the announcement of the hire was made.

“I think that will help him be able to go into houses and recruit at Northern Illinois University.”

Newsome’s comments were prescient, as Hammock is indeed recruiting very well this offseason, building off the success he achieved this bowl season. Hammock led the Huskies to a 21-19 win over Arkansas State in the Camelia Bowl, the program’s first bowl win since 2011, ending a streak of seven straight bowl game losses. He also led the program to a MAC title in 2021.

Hammock, who served as the Ravens Runnings Backs Coach from 2014-2018, has the Huskies moving in the right direction, and Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh saw it coming.

“He’s a smart game planner, hard-nosed disciplinarian but a player’s coach at the same time,” Harbaugh said when Hammock left Baltimore for DeKalb, IL.

“He relates to his guys really well. I just love him. He’s been a big part of our success and we’re going to miss him greatly, but our loss is Northern’s gain. They should be really happy to have him.”

The foundations for success at NIU were first laid in the NFL, where Hammock had to deal with a challenging, controversial, and potentially explosive situation. The infamous Ray Rice elevator video was made public just three months into Hammock’s tenure, and the league immediately suspended the star tailback due to his domestic violence case.

“When I first got there, there was a situation that arose, it was a challenge,” Hammock said during in an exclusive conversation with The Sports Bank. “But I was able to sign Justin Forsett late in the process and he wound up having a Pro Bowl season as a journeyman running back- gaining more than 1200 yards.”

Rice was released by Baltimore when the video first came out. He never played professional football again. His final year in professional football was the previous season, in 2013. Hammock only coached Rice during the 2014 preseason, as the franchise’s second all-time leading rusher was suspended before the regular season started.

“I had just got there, so I really didn’t know Ray as well, so for me, it was just a matter of getting the most production out of the position regardless of who was there,” Hammock added.

And to make the run game productive, he did. The Ravens rushing attack had finished a very poor 30th in the NFL the previous season (Rice averaged an abysmal 3.1 yards per carry the previous season, as he was injured), but they shot up to eighth (126.2 yards per game) in 2014.

Hammock got the running game turned around and did it without the guy he was initially supposed to build it around. Forsett went to his first career Pro Bowl in 2014, as he rushed for the fifth most yards in the NFL that season.

Retooling the run game from Rice to Forsett was the perfect indicator of what Hammock has been able to consistently do at Northern Illinois- find and develop the right personnel to get the job done.

During his five years in Baltimore, the rushing attack finished in the top 11 in the NFL three times, including in 2018, when the Ravens had the second-best running game in the league. During his final season on the job, they finished third in the NFL with 19 rushing touchdowns.