Texas announces hire of former Rutgers OC Drew Mehringer

On Monday, the Texas Longhorns announced the hire of former Rutgers offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer as an assistant coach under Tom Herman. News of the impending hire broke on Sunday and indicated that Mehringer will hold the title of passing game coordinator.

However, the Longhorns don’t plan on announcing positions or titles under after the entire staff is completed, which might not be until after New Years if Herman chooses to target coaches on teams participating in late bowl games or the College Football Playoffs. There are now four slots remaining on the staff.

"As somebody who has been born and raised in the greatest state and greatest place in the world, the opportunity to be back here, to be back near family, to be working with a group of guys I know really well and love and are great football coaches and great men, it's incredible," Mehringer said. "The fact that I get to do that here at The University of Texas, a place that we all grew up as high school players and kids with our eyes on the burnt orange, is something I don't know that I could have ever passed up. So for me, I'm tremendously excited."

"Drew is an outstanding young coach, and I've worked with him extensively over the years," Herman said. "He's from Texas, went to Rice and knows this state extremely well. Drew has a great offensive mind, gained tremendous experience at a lot of different places in a short period of time and will be a terrific addition to our staff."

During the 2016 season, Mehringer was the youngest play caller in the Power Five conferences at 28 years old. The first-year Rutgers offensive coordinator came to Texas after only a season in New Jersey because of his longtime relationship with Herman. The Mansfield native was briefly a quarterback at Rice under Herman before an injury ended his career. For his remaining college years, he served as a student assistant, then spent four years as a graduate assistant, with Herman at Iowa State and Ohio State.

After joining the Buckeyes, Herman told head coach Urban Meyer that Mehringer was a guy he wanted to bring with him. According to Meyer, the decision to bring Mehringer to Columbus was a success.

“I love Drew,” Meyer told NJ.com this year. “Drew was a big part of our success, very intelligent. I trusted Drew with a lot of things that I usually don't trust with young people."

Mehringer was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at James Madison in 2014, helping the Dukes to a prolific, record-setting season — 1,060 offensive plays, 6,300 offensive yards, 315 first downs, 475 passing attempts, 286 passing completions, 30 passing touchdowns, 3,499 passing yards and 159 passing first downs, all single-season records.

When the new Texas head coach took the job at Houston in 2015, Mehringer joined him as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Expect him to play a key recruiting role on Herman’s staff.

At the time of Mehringer’s departure to Rutgers, Herman called him the “brightest young coach in America.”