Texas assistant Ra’Shaad Samples hired by SMU

It appears that the Texas Longhorns staff is set to suffer a fairly significant loss, as multiple reports have indicated that SMU has hired Longhorns assistant Ra’Shaad Samples to a full-time role as a 10th assistant.

The Longhorns hired Samples in February of 2018 as a non-coaching assistant, though his Twitter profile notes that he’s an assistant receivers coach. According to The Football Brainiacs, Samples will be hired as a receivers coach at SMU.

Samples served as a key presence in Texas’ recent success recruiting the Dallas area as of late, which has come to be known as the #DallasToAustin movement. Amid this stretch of success recruiting the Metroplex, the Longhorns landed four pledges from the area thus far this cycle, and another in the 2021 class in the form of Dallas Skyline receiver Quaydarius Davis.

To put Samples’ impact into perspective, the five DFW-area pledges Texas holds halfway through the 2020 class and at a tremendously early stages of the 2021 class already surpasses the Horns efforts in 2018 and 2019, as Texas signed just four total talents from the area.

This success was largely due to Samples’ ties to the Metroplex, as he’s not only a Dallas Skyline alum, but his father, Reginald, is currently the head coach at Duncanville, which is home to elite Texas pledge Ja’Quinden Jackson and key safety target Chris Thompson Jr.

Fortunately for Texas, Horns247’s Jeff Howe reports that Samples’ departure to SMU isn’t expected to impact any current commits or key targets.