Harrell looks to be solid. I remember him being part of a high powered passing game in college, and just read his father was a big time HS coach as well. I love the Leach connection. There’s reason to be excited. On the flip side, taking a look at points per game at USC before, during, and after his tenure. Not terrible, but his offenses were not among the strongest of the past decade, and they improved significantly from 29 to 41 points/game last season when he moved on to WV. His impact at WV in one season appeared to be positive.
Graham Harrell OC
- Thread starter Purduemoe
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He also took a bottom 30 offense at North Texas and turned it into a top 25 offense. It’s always a bit tricky to judge an offensive coordinators impact because they fall under the head coach and their philosophy as well. I am encouraged and excited by what we might have though.
Things like that happen at USC when you bring a Heisman trophy winner on board.
He earned a Super Bowl ring while on the Packers team in 2010.Maybe he can wear it while recruiting.
put me down for really liking this hire. Think we get better receivers and rb recruits w/ this staff too
Purely speculation, but I could definitely see Alaimo transferring this offseason. Already been in the portal once and if Harrell brings one of Daniels or Slovis (or another transfer QB) then it would seem like he would seek opportunity elsewhere. A Daniels/Slovis, Allen, Browne would be a really solid QB room setup going forward. None of those guys are really mobile QBs and Walters mentioned a mobile guy for his offense in his press conference so maybe they bring in a transfer that meets that criteria instead.
Alaimo I think is pretty mobile. Heard him say once running was one of his strengths.
I agree, he's definitely the most mobile of the QB room now (not including Burton). I don't think its true "dual-threat" level speed, maybe more like the kind of guy who can keep a defense honest with his legs and get 2-3 solid scrambles a game. But defintely has some rollout for throws out of the pocket ability
lol yeah I keep forgetting about that, not sure of Purdue's willingness to shell out that kind of money yet. Especially since Purdue has kept their NIL strategy pretty close to their chest. The Walters press conference comments on NIL were comforting though. I will say that a former top 20 5 star QB playing for his long time offensive coordinator is marketable "put butts in seats" type of material
Wait isn't this the guy whose team had more rushing attempts than passing attempts in 2022 and his team finished 9 out of 10 in points scored, total offense and passing offense in the Big 12?
During his tenure at USC they were 17 and 14, Not great by USC standards.
During his tenure at USC they were 17 and 14, Not great by USC standards.
Straight out of USC website. I tend to focus on the good. Life is more fun that way. Love the hire of both these guys. Not expecting big things the first couple years but I think they are the right guys for the job. They both have proven they can be successful with the right kids.
Graham Harrell, who produced back-to-
back national Top 25 offenses while the
offensive coordinator at North Texas,
joined the USC staff in January of 2019 as
offensive coordinator and quarterbacks
coach.
Harrell, 35, was a record-setting, award
winning quarterback at a Texas high
school and at Texas Tech, then earned a
Super Bowl ring before pursuing a
coaching career.
In 2020, USC's passing offense ranked
11th nationally (first in Pac-12) at
319.3. Ouarterback Kedon Slovis made
All-Pac-12 first team while ranking in the
national Top 20 in completions (first at
29.5), passing yards (sixth at 320.2), total
offense (13th at 310.7) and completion
percentage (18th at .670), all tops in the
Pac-12. Wide receiver Amon-RaSt.
Brown also was an All-Pac-12 first
teamer.
@ usctrojans.com
The problem was that Helton's teams couldn't play defense. Offense wasn't perfect. But it certainly wasn't terrible.
This makes me feel a million percent better. Purdue is meant to throw the ball around. I was worried that we'd try to out Wisconsin or Iowa those teams with lesser talent the way Colletto did.
The offensive stats were good at USC. I don't follow WV football but they did run the ball more than they passed it last year. Here is a comparison of the percentage of passing plays/total plays for Purdue, Mississippi State and WV/USC under Harrell for the last three years.
Mississippi State 2022 68%, 2021 72%, 2020 73%
Purdue 2022 56%, 2021 60%, 2020 64%
WV/US 2022 49%, 2021 56%, 2020 59%
Could have been do to personnel and the HC. Certainly not Wisconsin or Iowa, but he hasn't thrown it around like Leach the last few years. Looks to be a little more balanced than Brohm.
I fully agree with you. I"m rather tired of ADs building up hype and then not delivering. it makes it appear he's trying to sell tickets rather than provide people with an objective and truthful message.
you could not believe all the hype that was given to hazell before and immediately after his hire. Our AD did the same thing before announcing the brohm hire making one believe we were going to hire the next best thing to Saban.
I wish our AD would be honest and just say we're hiring an up and coming coach who doesn't have much experience and it was the best we could do. How hard is that to admit the truth?
the WV media had some parting words on Harrell after he left. They were not really sad to see him leave. Their season was a bit of a disappointment this year. they started out strong and expectations were high. then injuries hit, the offense was made to adjust,, and was not as productive down the stretch. they did beat both ok and ok st.
anybody can look at their scores. they scored a lot of points their first 4 games. but their wins against Ok and OK st were low scoring games.
i don't really follow WV football, so i do not know who the key injuries were. But it was said prominently on their media coverage after he left, that the offense did experience key injuries this year that affected the offense that was implemented.
anybody can look at their scores. they scored a lot of points their first 4 games. but their wins against Ok and OK st were low scoring games.
i don't really follow WV football, so i do not know who the key injuries were. But it was said prominently on their media coverage after he left, that the offense did experience key injuries this year that affected the offense that was implemented.
Their top RB was out half the season, his backup was hurt a few games, they were down to their 3rd RB by seasons end. JT Daniels was hurt for, I believe the last 2 games, and their backup is more of a runner than a passer. They were out their starting TE for a few games, and I believe they had some OL injuries throughout the season.
will never happen, when at USC, Daniels asked for a 4 bedroom house , 6 figures, and a personal chef. They agreed to the first 2 and not the 3rd. We usually don't get that kind of player
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