BREAKING: NC State offensive line coach John Garrison reportedly leaves for Ole Miss
NC State’s staff continued its reshuffling Saturday afternoon, with offensive line coach John Garrison reportedly taking the same job with Ole Miss, per On3’s Matt Zenitz. The former Wolfpack assistant has coached in Raleigh since 2019.
The Nebraska alumnus has spent 18 seasons coaching and now reunites with Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who he previously worked with at Florida Atlantic. He worked for the Cornhuskers for seven years before stints at UNLV and FAU.
Garrison will be filling the spot left open on the Ole Miss staff after Jake Thornton accepted a job at Auburn.
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Head coach Dave Doeren hired Garrison from the Owls’ staff, and the assistant coach helped develop NFL first-round pick Ikem Ekwonu, center Grant Gibson and guard Chandler Zavala, who were all first-team All-ACC linemen. Under his coaching, Ekwonu developed from a three-star recruit into a first-team All-American.
Both Gibson and Zavala made the All-ACC first team under Garrison’s coaching in 2022, anchoring the interior of the NC State offensive line. The NC State assistant also helped put together an impressive recruiting class this year, with four-star tackle Darion Rivers and three-star linemen Kamen Smith, Charlie Symonds and Obadiah Obasuyi all set to sign with the Wolfpack Dec. 21.
Smith talked about his relationship with Garrison earlier this fall.
“Number one, you can see firsthand how good he is with development,” Smith said shortly after committing. “And then, really, we’re both pretty into fishing, so we were able to relate with that.”
Garrison continues NC State offensive staff shuffle
Garrison is the second member of the 2021 offensive coaching staff to leave for another job. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Beck recently left Raleigh to take the head coach job at Coastal Carolina. Beck was hired by Doeren in 2020 and led the Wolfpack offense for 3 seasons.
Syracuse offensive coordinator Robert Anae is reportedly set to take the same position at NC State, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Anae has experience coaching the offensive line in past coaching roles but has never coached quarterbacks.
The Wolfpacker’s Matt Carter wrote about Anae earlier this week:
“At Virginia, Anae oversaw gradual improvement of the offense. Each season, the Cavaliers improved their national rank in yards per game from the prior year, rising from 112th in 2016 to third before Mendenhall announced his sudden resignation after the 2021 campaign.
“Both Gibson and Doeren spoke highly of how Anae had improved Syracuse’s offense this season, although the overall stats for the Orange were fairly similar to the year before.
“Syracuse finished 89th in total offense. That was largely due to a tough four-game stretch against ranked opponents Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida State plus a strong defense from Pittsburgh. During that time, Syracuse did not gain 300 yards in a game and was held to 160 yards or fewer twice.
“However, the Orange bounced back and had 477 yards at Wake Forest and 449 yards at Boston College in the final two contests of the year.”
