Texas Football: LSU QB Joe Burrow was recruited by Tom Herman

Although he wouldn’t have landed with the Texas football program, it’s interesting to know that Tom Herman recruited star LSU QB Joe Burrow back in the day.

A fact that is just so amazingly painful for the Texas football program, given the 7-5 (5-4 Big 12) record they put up during the regular season is that the reigning Heisman Trophy was recruited by their head coach. LSU Tigers senior superstar quarterback Joe Burrow put on a show during the regular season, and is doing the same in the College Football Playoff so far, on his way to winning the Heisman honors.

All Burrow did to win the Heisman Trophy this season was complete more than 76 percent of his passing attempts for 4,715 yards and more than 50 total touchdowns, with just six interceptions. He continued that electric pace with an NCAA record seven passing touchdowns in the first half of the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff Semifinals against the Oklahoma Sooners.

However, where did it all begin for the former graduate transfer quarterback turned superstar Burrow?

Starting his career out with the Ohio State Buckeyes under former head coach Urban Meyer, Burrow was a backup quarterback behind a number of Heisman contenders in Columbus. He came into the Ohio State program the year after they won the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and saw stars like JT Barrett and Dwayne Haskins roll through town.

But Burrow was actually recruited out of high school by a former Ohio State offensive coordinator, turned head coach now. That former Ohio State offensive coordinator is also now the head coach of Texas.

The Texas Longhorns football program hired third-year head coach Tom Herman after his brief but successful stint with the Houston Cougars back in December 2016. He had two years with the Cougars before coming to the Forty Acres.

Furthermore, Herman recruited Burrow when he was a four-star dual-threat quarterback hailing from The Plains, OH, and Athens High School. Burrow didn’t have a whole lot of big time offers come his way out of high school. The Boston College Eagles, Iowa State Cyclones, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Virginia Tech Hokies, West Virginia Mountaineers, and Ohio State were the highlighting schools that offered Burrow.

Burrow wound up committing to play for Ohio State. He was ranked as the nation’s No. 280 2015 high school prospect and the No. 8 dual-threat quarterback. Those rankings were definitely blown out of the water with the way that Burrow is breaking out this season.

After three years at Ohio State, Burrow transferred out to play under head coach Ed Orgeron at LSU. Baton Rouge turned out to be a much better fit for Burrow than Columbus. He also got out a few years after Herman left Ohio State for the head coaching job at Houston and then Texas.

If nothing else, Longhorn football fans can use the recruitment of Burrow as a testament to the ability that Herman has to scout quarterback talent. Texas recruited quarterbacks well since Herman took over as head coach, and they saw their biggest and brightest star come to the forefront since Colt McCoy left the Forty Acres, with junior signal caller Sam Ehlinger.

Burrow is by far the nation’s best quarterback with the way he’s playing this year. There’s a lot of talented quarterbacks in the College Football Playoff this season, but none that come close to matching the production through the air that Burrow has.