Perhaps prior to today, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham’s hires did have a running theme of each hire having a personal connection to a staff member. That theory changed with two left field hires, yet impressive moves on their own merit as Ra’Shaad Samples, the NFL LA Rams running backs coach, and TCU Bryan Carrington, offensive analyst - recruiting coordinator, were hired by Arizona State.
Samples will serve as the Sun Devils’ wide receivers coach, while Carrington will guide the defensive backs unit in Tempe.
At age 27, Samples was the youngest assistant position coach in the NFL as he was in the midst of his first season in the league. He arrived in Los Angles after three years at SMU, where he started as an offensive graduate assistant in 2019 and, a year later, was promoted to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, and in 2021 added the assistant head coach title. During his tenure with the Mustangs, he worked with former Rams running back Xavier Jones, who led the FBS in rushing touchdowns (23) and was a Doak Walker semifinalist and all-conference selection in 2020.
According to various reports, Samples is expected to implement some aspects of Rams’ head coach Sean McVay's potent passing game, which has been among the leaders in the league for the last several years, resulting in a Super Bowl win in 2021.
Samples was a four-star wide receiver and a Rivals250 prospect in the 2013 class, who was offered by ASU, among others but did sign with Oklahoma State before ending his career at the University of Houston
Samples, who medically retired while at Houston, became a student assistant with his alma mater and, in 2018, was a graduate assistant job working with wide receivers at the University of Texas. This is where he met his now-fellow ASU assistant coach Bryan Carrington.
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Bryan Carrington comes to Tempe after serving one year as TCU’s offensive analyst and recruiting coordinator. The Horned Frogs, one of four College Football Playoffs teams this year, currently have the no. 19 rankled 2023 recruiting class.
Carrington joined TCU after a love campaign with USC serving as the running back quality control analyst in 2021. He helped mentor Keaontay Ingram into being the Trojans’ leading rusher with 911 yards while earning All-Pac 12 honors. Pro Football Focus ranked Ingram fourth nationally in run grade at 91.4 and 16th in the country in offensive grade at 87.1.
In 2018 and 2019, as the Longhorns’ director of recruiting, he helped produce back-to-back top 3 recruiting classes in the nation. In 2018, Carrington assisted Texas in signing 11 of the top 15 ranked players in the state. Since 2016, Carrington has signed 11 five-star recruits. Included in that total are Texas running back Bijan Robinson, the nation’s No. 1 recruit at his position in the Class of 2020, and Class of 2019 Maxwell Award winner Bru McCoy. Additionally, Carrington signed 2019 Gatorade Player of the Year Jake Smith.
Carrington is also a graduate of the University of Houston and, much like Samples, has developed vast recruiting connections in the Lone Star state, which balance out the strong Southwest and California recruiting presence of the Arizona State staff members who were added prior to the Samples and Carrington hires.
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Kenny Dillingham’s hires to date are as follows:
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks’ coach: Beau Baldwin
Defensive coordinator: Brian Ward
Running backs: Shaun Aguano
Special Teams Coordinator/Edge Rushers: Charlie Ragle
Defensive line: Vince Amey
Wide Receivers: Ra’Shaad Samples
Defensive backs: Bryan Carrington
Linebackers: AJ Cooper
Offensive Line: Saga Tuitele
Tight Ends: Hire will be announced early next week
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