So @jhead34382 dropped a sizeable nugget in the Rundown related to Austin Davis, and I wanted to underscore it. TL/DR.
Pete Carroll (Seattle) knows a little about picking young up and coming offensive coaches.
Carroll loves Austin Davis’s upside. Hars is seeing the same upside, though he may have preferred Plan 1a to bring in a seasoned play caller.
So how high risk is Plan 1b with Hars plucking a 32 year-old QB coach from the NFL?
Pete Carroll hired two barely known, high potential offensive minds onto his USC coaching staff, and both proved to be home runs in their careers.
A guy you may have heard of, Steve Sarkisian, played QB at BYU and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. His first coaching gig was that dominant perennial dynasty program, El Camino College, in 2000.
Pete Carroll hired then 27 year-old Steve Sarkisian at USC in 2001 to coach quarterbacks.
Another offensive guru you may have heard of, Lane Kiffin, played QB at Fresno State. He would then be a GA at Fresno and Colorado State before being quality control coach at the Jacksonville Jags (2000).
In 2001, Pete Carroll hired then 26 year-old Lane Kiffin to coach TEs at USC, and the following two years, Kiffin would coach WRs at USC.
Enter Seattle QB coach, Austin Davis, who at the ripe old age of 32 is the odds-on favorite to be hired by Bryan Harsin as the next OC at Auburn.
Call him inexperienced if you want, as our rivals would appreciate you doing, and it’s not untrue. Just as Kiffin and Sark were inexperienced in 2001. Davis won’t be instantly calling plays from the booth in big SEC games, he’ll instead be on a fast track to do so by perhaps 2023 after learning the Harsin (and Eric Keisau) offensive philosophy. Davis will certainly also influence the offensive system Hars installs, offering input from his considerable NFL pedigree, which could infuse creativity.
So Bryan Harsin is making a bet on a high-energy, young up and coming offensive mind who has been mentored by NFL coaches at the Rams, Dolphins, Browns, Broncos, Titans, and Seahawks. I hope he had Two Men and a Truck on retainer.
As a coach, Davis has been mentored by the great Pete Carroll, and 41 year-old Seahawks OC, Shane Waldron, who spent four seasons with the Rams as passing game coordinator prior to being hired as OC for Pete Carroll in 2021.
Davis also knows the South. A walk-onto the Southern Miss Golden Eagles program, Davis redshirted the 2007 season and became the starter a year later. He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single-season marks and led the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl. He was selected to the Freshman All-Conference USA team and earned a Freshman All-American honorable mention by College Football News for 2008.
So be careful calling Harsin’s hiring “bet” on Davis foolish, because there’s a body of evidence crowned by the great Pete Carroll counter to your argument.
And now you know, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
Pete Carroll (Seattle) knows a little about picking young up and coming offensive coaches.
Carroll loves Austin Davis’s upside. Hars is seeing the same upside, though he may have preferred Plan 1a to bring in a seasoned play caller.
So how high risk is Plan 1b with Hars plucking a 32 year-old QB coach from the NFL?
Pete Carroll hired two barely known, high potential offensive minds onto his USC coaching staff, and both proved to be home runs in their careers.
A guy you may have heard of, Steve Sarkisian, played QB at BYU and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. His first coaching gig was that dominant perennial dynasty program, El Camino College, in 2000.
Pete Carroll hired then 27 year-old Steve Sarkisian at USC in 2001 to coach quarterbacks.
Another offensive guru you may have heard of, Lane Kiffin, played QB at Fresno State. He would then be a GA at Fresno and Colorado State before being quality control coach at the Jacksonville Jags (2000).
In 2001, Pete Carroll hired then 26 year-old Lane Kiffin to coach TEs at USC, and the following two years, Kiffin would coach WRs at USC.
Enter Seattle QB coach, Austin Davis, who at the ripe old age of 32 is the odds-on favorite to be hired by Bryan Harsin as the next OC at Auburn.
Call him inexperienced if you want, as our rivals would appreciate you doing, and it’s not untrue. Just as Kiffin and Sark were inexperienced in 2001. Davis won’t be instantly calling plays from the booth in big SEC games, he’ll instead be on a fast track to do so by perhaps 2023 after learning the Harsin (and Eric Keisau) offensive philosophy. Davis will certainly also influence the offensive system Hars installs, offering input from his considerable NFL pedigree, which could infuse creativity.
So Bryan Harsin is making a bet on a high-energy, young up and coming offensive mind who has been mentored by NFL coaches at the Rams, Dolphins, Browns, Broncos, Titans, and Seahawks. I hope he had Two Men and a Truck on retainer.
As a coach, Davis has been mentored by the great Pete Carroll, and 41 year-old Seahawks OC, Shane Waldron, who spent four seasons with the Rams as passing game coordinator prior to being hired as OC for Pete Carroll in 2021.
Davis also knows the South. A walk-onto the Southern Miss Golden Eagles program, Davis redshirted the 2007 season and became the starter a year later. He ended the year with a combined total of 15 school records for both game and single-season marks and led the Golden Eagles to a bowl game victory in the 2008 New Orleans Bowl. He was selected to the Freshman All-Conference USA team and earned a Freshman All-American honorable mention by College Football News for 2008.
So be careful calling Harsin’s hiring “bet” on Davis foolish, because there’s a body of evidence crowned by the great Pete Carroll counter to your argument.
And now you know, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
