Texas Football Hiring Former Big 12 Analyst as Special Assistant - Report

The Texas Longhorns are adding to Steve Sarkisian's coaching staff.

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian walks the field ahead of the game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2023 in Ames, Iowa. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman /

AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns and Steve Sarkisian are adding to the coaching staff as the program gets set for the official move to the SEC.

Per reports Friday from FootballScoop.com, the Longhorns are hiring former Houston special teams analyst Chris Forestier to the Texas support staff. He had joined FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff in March as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, but will now be heading to Austin instead.

The report states that he will fill a role similar to that of Joe DeCamillis, who spent last season with Texas as a special assistant to the head coach after winning a Super Bowl as special teams coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams during the 2021 NFL campaign. DeCamillis is now at South Carolina as the associate head coach and special teams coordinator.

FootballScoop.com notes that last season, with Forestier as a special teams analyst, Houston's special teams field had two kickoff returns for touchdowns and three blocked kicks. Texas transfer receiver and former Cougar, Matthew Golden, was responsible for both of those returns touchdowns, as he ran back scores against TCU and West Virginia last season. Maybe he can find similar success this fall with Forestier now on staff.

With special teams speedsters Xavier Worthy and Keilan Robinson both now in the NFL after being selected in the 2024 draft, the Longhorns will need a potential combination of Golden, Johntay Cook and Oregon State transfer Silas Bolden, who just arrived to campus last month, to help fill the void in the return game.

Worthy and Robinson both had return touchdowns last season. If the Longhorns can replicate this production and more under Jeff Banks and Forestier, they'll be in for significant success in the SEC.