Brandon Harris confirms hire as Texas Director of Recruiting

Brandon Harris is stepping into big shoes.

With Bryan Carrington off to the USC Trojans as an offensive quality control analyst with the goal of eventually becoming an on-field assistant, the Texas Longhorns elevated former LSU Tigers and North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Brandon Harris to the same role.

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported the move as expected on Monday.

A one-time volunteer member of Tom Herman’s support staff at Houston, Carrington spent 16 months as an assistant Director of Player Personnel under Derek Chang before his recruiting acumen in the 2018 recruiting class resulted in the establishment of a new role — Director of Recruiting.

Carrington continued his stellar efforts in that position until Herman was fired and Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian took over as the 31st Texas head coach. After initially remaining in that role, thanks in part to support from current and former players he helped recruit, Carrington went looking for opportunities to fulfill his coaching ambitions and took the job at USC earlier this month.

Enter Harris.

A top-100 prospect and consensus four-star prospect ranked as the nation’s No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the 2014 recruiting class, Harris received national offers, including from Herman at Ohio State. The Bossier City (La.) Parkway product eventually chose home-state LSU, winning the role as the full-time starter as a sophomore in 2015 and throwing for 2,165 yards and 13 touchdowns, but he struggled as a junior and only started two games.

After becoming a graduate transfer, Harris once again received interest from Herman, this time at Texas, before landing at North Carolina, starting in two games and appearing in four more.

A year after Harris graduated from UNC, the connections to Herman finally paid off — Harris took a job as an offensive analyst and assistant running backs coach, aiding position coach Stan Drayton with the pursuit of top talents like Bijan Robinson and 2022 commit Jaydon Blue.

Now Sarkisian is trusting that the aptitude that Harris showed in that role will help him replace one of the best off-field assistants in college football, marking one of the biggest support staff decisions made by Sarkisian since his arrival on the Forty Acres.