Solomon Thomas expects to drive Stanford’s defense in 2016

If Solomon Thomas’ father hadn’t been transferred from Australia back to the U.S. after five years Down Under, Thomas might well be playing Australian rules football.

Maybe he wouldn’t have developed an admiration for Ndamukong Suh, the great defensive tackle formerly with the Detroit Lions and now with the Miami Dolphins.

Maybe Thomas wouldn’t have landed at Stanford, where he is expected to be the mainstay of the defensive line next season as a redshirt sophomore.

The last three games of the 2015 season — including the thrilling win over Notre Dame, the rout of USC in the Pac-12 title game and the Rose Bowl win over Iowa — were his best of the season, Shaw said.

From the looks of things at spring practice — which halted Monday night as the players prepared for finals — Thomas should be one of the top players in the defense.

With the retirement of Randy Hart after 46 years of coaching, the defensive line is now under the tutelage of Diron Reynolds, who spent more than a decade coaching in the NFL.

Before his senior year at Coppell (Texas) High School, where he was rated the nation’s fourth-best defensive end by Scout and ESPN, Thomas attended Nike’s Opening, an all-star camp in Oregon.

Stanford’s spring practice resumes March 29 and runs through the spring game April 9.

The spring game this year will be played at Cagan Stadium, home of the soccer and lacrosse teams. …

After the first two-week spring session, there was no clear-cut leader in the quarterback competition between Keller Chryst and Ryan Burns.