Crabtree Joining Former O-Line Coach at OSU in Henson at Southern Cal

STILLWATER – The departure of Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to Southern Cal hurt the Sooners bad as Riley also took full-time coaches and staffers with him to Los Angeles. Riley recently hired former Oklahoma State offensive lineman and assistant coach Josh Henson away from Texas A&M as his co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Henson was most recently offensive line coach at Texas A&M. Now, Henson has hired the Cowboys offensive line recruiting analyst Zach Crabtree to USC as an offensive analyst specializing in offensive line play.

Crabtree, a native of Mansfield, Texas was recruiting to Oklahoma State by longtime offensive line coach Joe Wickline, but he eventually finished his career being coached by Henson. Crabtree went on to the NFL and was with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2017-18. A career ending knee injury was the reason his football playing days ended.

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Crabtree conversing with current Oklahoma State offensive tackle Caleb Etienne, who he helped recruit.

After the Chargers, Crabtree got into coaching and eventually landed an offensive line graduate assistant post with Wickline at Baylor for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He returned to Oklahoma State last spring and has been a big help with offensive line scouting, evaluations, and recruiting. He was also helping some as an off-the-field offensive line analyst. That is what he will be doing more of with the Trojans staff.

Crabtree was with the Cowboys in Arizona and formally announced his departure Monday after the team arrived home on Sunday. The word first hit the streets when he changed his Twitter page to reflect his new position and school he is working for. Crabtree will be an excellent coach in our opinion and could be one of those guys that Mike Gundy brings back at some point.