AUBURN, ALABAMA (EETV) After cutting ties with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo earlier in the month, Bryan Harsin has found who he thinks is his guy going forward. Seahawks quarterbacks coach Austin Davis is headed to the Plains as first reported by On3.com's Justin Hokanson.
A native of Meridian, Mississippi, Davis was a walk-on at Southern Miss before taking the reigns as the starting quarterback in 2008. He went on to break Brett Farve's record for most passing touchdowns as a freshman with 23. By the end of his freshman season, the young quarterback had accrued 15 different school records. His four-year stint with the Golden Eagles was not suffecient enough to earn a spot in the 2012 NFL draft; however, he was signed to an UDFA deal with the then-Saint Louis Rams.
Davis' NFL career lasted seven years; however, likely did not pan out as expected. On Feb. 22, 2019, he found himself on the coaching staff of Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks giving instruction to 7-time Pro Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson.
Harsin's hiring of Davis continues his trend of refraining to hire from in-house and presents the former NFL quarterback with his first opportunity to take the reigns of an entire offense.
UPDATED 12/18
Auburn officially announced Davis' addition to the program via Twitter on Saturday afternoon. The press release included quotes from the likes of Carrol and Wilson.
"I think (Davis) is going to be a brilliant offensive coordinator and potential head coach one day," Wilson said. "He has a passion for the game, number one. Number two, he's got an understanding of the game as he's played the position at the highest level in the National Football League. And three, he's an amazing teacher. He's an amazing teacher of the game. He keeps it simple in terms of relaxing the quarterback's mind. He'll be an amazing coach at Auburn."
Davis will be tasked with reconstructing the Tiger offensive attack following the departure of junior quarterback Bo Nix and senior tailback Shaun Shivers. He seeks to improve and Auburn offense which was ranked near the bottom of its conference in terms of production in 2021.
