USC Football OC Graham Harrell to stay with contract extension

USC will have Graham Harrell for a little bit longer. The offensive coordinator has agreed to a multi year extension per USC athletics twitter account.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic shared the details of the extension. Three years at $1.2 million per year.

The concern was at high as it appeared that USC was in danger of losing Harrell two weeks ago when reports came out that Texas head coach Tom Herman has spoken to Trojans offensive coordinator in regards to the vacant offensive coordinating position with the Longhorns. The two sides were reportedly interested. There were also reports of Harrell interviewing for head coaching opportunities at UNLV and UTSA.

Harrell has been the breath of fresh air that the Trojans desperately needed on offense last season. His air raid scheme has helped USC utilize some explosive talent on that side of that ball and improved the offense moving forward. Under Harrell, USC was No. 14 in the nation in total offense and saw their point per game average jump to 33.1 per game.

There’s plenty to be excited about with the USC offense next year in Harrell’s second year calling plays. He’ll have quarterback Kedon Slovis returning following an impressive freshman season with the Trojans. The freshman quarterback shared his excitement on the news of Harrell returning through his twitter account.

The wide receiving group will once again be the strength of the offense. They won’t have Biletnikoff award finalist Michael Pittman Jr. as he will graduate, but will return Amon-Ra St. Brown and Drake London. They’ll also have Tyler Vaughns, assuming he forego the NFL draft and returns to the Trojans. Not to mention USC will add Bru McCoy to the mix while Kyle Ford could see a bigger role in the offense.