Football brings in new director of player personnel
USC head football coach Clay Helton announced last Friday that Austin Thomas, the 2015 FootballScoop Player Personnel Director of the Year, will return to USC as the director of player personnel and NFL research.
Previously, Thomas served as a defensive intern and a recruiting assistant before moving to Louisiana State University to serve as their director of player personnel.
In his role, Thomas is responsible for evaluating prospective players, managing recruiting events and maintaining a recruiting network.
At LSU, Thomas was successful in helping the program to claim three straight top-five signing classes and in signing No. 1 recruit Leonard Fournette in 2014.
His 2016 recruiting class is currently ranked sixth by Rivals.com.
Thomas began his career as a recruiting intern and defensive assistant at Tennessee.
He then followed former head coach Lane Kiffin to USC, where he worked as a defensive intern, recruiting assistant and assistant director of operations before moving to LSU in 2013.
His role on the LSU operations team for the past three years was praised by those in his department as one of the most important contributions in strengthening and solidifying a powerhouse LSU team.
“Austin is a future NFL general manager, there’s not a doubt in my mind,” former LSU recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach Frank Wilson said in an interview with FootballScoop after Thomas received the 2015 award. “I’ve never worked with someone as talented as he is in this role.”