Following the news that Graham Harrell is staying at Southern California, the Texas Longhorns and head coach Tom Herman are going back to the drawing board. The other name thrown about was Joe Brady out of Louisiana State but that seems like a stretch at this point. So where could Herman go? There is the safe route with Major Applewhite who is a former Longhorn, spent time on staff and has connections to Herman just like new defensive coordinator in Chris Ash.
A name that should garner attention for the position is current SMU offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Lashlee is in his first season as play caller for the Mustangs after stops in Samford, Arkansas State, Auburn and Connecticut. Lashlee put the Mustangs on the map this year. The big positive for Lashlee is that Herman likes to run the football and SMU ran more run plays than passing while averaging 43 points per game. The Longhorns averaged 35 points per game but for the most part their issues didn’t come from offense more often than not. In their losses to Baylor and Iowa State the defense held both teams to below 25 points and the offense couldn’t keep up.
Lashlee’s offense scored over 45 points in a game in seven of 12 opportunities. They like to run the ball more than pass while having a feature receiver like SMU did this season. The Mustangs featured a 1,000 yard receiver and running back. That is something that hasn’t been seen in Austin since the late Cedrick Benson and Roy Williams accomplished that in both the 2002 and 2003 seasons for the Longhorns. Another reason to look at Lashlee is the fact that he led the Auburn Tigers to a National Championship appearance with Nick Marshall at quarterback.
If head coach Tom Herman is looking to go against his familiarity and make a hire that he doesn’t have immediate ties with then Rhett Lashlee makes sense. The hire of Lashlee could also have a tremendous impact on recruiting for future classes. With how things have gone recently for Texas, this is the shakeup that Longhorns definitely could use.