UTSA hires an ex-Bama assistant and continues its interesting recruiting push

UTSA is one of college football’s most intriguing programs to watch because it’s still basically a startup. The Roadrunners didn’t start playing until 2011, when they played their first season under ex-Miami head coach Larry Coker. He stayed in charge for four seasons, guiding the program into Conference USA and going 22-26.

Coker stepped down (or was fired) after 2015, and UTSA hired LSU assistant Frank Wilson as his replacement. Wilson got UTSA, which stands for the University of Texas at San Antonio, to its first bowl game last year. Then, he landed UTSA’s best recruiting class ever on National Singing Day. Now, some eye-catching staff news:

New defensive line coach Bo Davis previously held that job at Alabama in 2014 and 2015, as well as from 2007 to 2010. He was a well-regarded coach and an elite recruiter, regularly leading dominant defensive lines and wooing top players to Tuscaloosa. But he resigned under curious circumstances last spring, and the NCAA investigated him for alleged recruiting violations.

That Davis is being hired for another coaching job is a bit surprising because the NCAA hasn’t announced an end to its investigation or any penalties for him.

He’s had a challenging year, as he recently explained to AL.com’s Matt Zenitz:

“It’s been very difficult. There was a period when it first happened of ‘What the hell just happened here?’ Felt really destroyed. With my family, I was trying not to be depressed. Trying to fight through that. You kind of feel like you’re worthless. You just feel like, ‘What am I here for?’ You can’t work. You’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, so what good are you here? And that’s something I’ve had to deal with. That’s a phase I went through. It was a very low time. I didn’t want to be around anybody. Didn’t even want to be around my family. But it was a time that I had to push myself through.”

Wilson signed his first recruiting class at UTSA a year ago, when he’d only been on the job for a couple of weeks. That class was No. 107 in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite. This year’s was No. 73, the best in the program’s seven-class history and a 34-spot jump from Wilson’s first class. Before it, no UTSA class had even breached the top 100. This class was No. 3 in Conference USA.

Coaches usually do better on their second Signing Day than their first, but Wilson’s jump was bigger than anyone else’s who was hired when he was:

Keep an eye on the Roadrunners. The Davis hire isn’t guaranteed to work out, but they’ve already made a swift recruiting leap this year. Wilson could have one of the non-power conferences’ best teams on his hands if he keeps accumulating talent.