Bru McCoy saga: The timeline of the USC vs. Texas transfer battle

Bru McCoy is once again embroiled in transfer rumors involving USC and Texas. Yes. Again. A lot has happened in the last six months.

There’s been more twist and turns to the Bru McCoy saga than the newest and greatest ride at Six Flags.

Since the USC football season ended six months ago, Clay Helton’s Trojans have gone from being the favorite for the five-star Mater Dei receiver’s signature, to being entrenched in a hot recruiting battle with Texas, to enrolling him, losing him and now potentially re-signing him before the Longhorns have time to declare no take-backs.

Yeah. It’s been that wild of a ride for McCoy and those courting him.

Let’s walk through the timeline of the last six months, including him enrolling at both USC and Texas. It starts in November…

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November 25, 2018: One night after losing to Notre Dame to cap a 5-7 season, USC sends a full house to visit Bru McCoy, including offensive coordinator Tee Martin and director of player development Gavin Morris. Scott Schrader of Trojan Insider had the photo:

November 27, 2018: Martin is one of three coaches relieved of their duties at USC, fired after seven seasons as an assistant.

November 28, 2018: NFL.com’s Gil Brandt tweets that recently fired Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury is the frontrunner to be USC’s new offensive coordinator.

November 29, 2018: Kingsbury is reported to have agreed to a deal with USC, per Ryan Abraham of USCFootball.com. Several reports around the local beat confirm, while both Brandt and The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman suggest all’s not done, with the NFL still looming.

December 3, 2018: Texas head coach Tom Herman and passing game/wide receivers coach Drew Mehringer stop by for an in-home visit with McCoy. According to 247Sports, the trip was a success. “It was a great visit,” McCoy told Greg Biggins. “They were here for four hours. […] We just talked real casual about everything, that’s how my relationship is with those guys.”

December 4, 2018: Finally, Helton’s biggest win of 2018 is complete in the form of Kliff Kingsbury. Bruce Feldman reports it’s a done deal for the former Texas Tech head coach, ending a week’s worth of NFL speculation. A day later, USC officially announced the move.

December 8, 2018: Mater Dei wins the CIF Open Division State Championship for the second-straight year. McCoy helped contribute with a 37-yard touchdown pass from 2020 USC quarterback commit Bryce Young.

December 11, 2018: McCoy gets a second in-home visit in eight days with Texas’s Herman and Mehringer.

https://twitter.com/HLM85/status/1072930083650789376

December 14-16, 2018: McCoy’s final official visit goes to USC, spending the weekend with Kingsbury in an attempt to seal the deal on his signature.

December 19, 2018: USC officially announces 18 signees as part of its 2019 recruiting class, despite recruiting director Eric Ziskin tweeting 20 fight on emojis. The 19th was widely assumed to be Australian punter/transfer Ben Griffiths, but the identity of the final signee wasn’t revealed.

January 1, 2019: Rumors start to heat up about Kliff Kingsbury to the NFL again, with Yahoo!’s Charles Robinson reporting he’s set to interview with the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Jets.

January 5, 2019: ESPN’s Adam Schefter drops a contested report that USC may have been blocking Kingsbury interviewing with pro teams, leading to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggesting the coach could avoid the blockage by resigning as offensive coordinator.

January 5, 2019: Amid the Kingsbury fiasco, McCoy announced his decision to play at USC. He picked the Trojans on national television during the All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

January 7, 2019: USC’s spring semester begins with McCoy on campus as one of 11 early enrollees in the 2019 recruiting class.

January 8, 2019: Kingsbury leaves USC after 35 days, when he’s named the new Arizona Cardinals head coach according to FOX Sports’ Peter Schrager.

January 15, 2019: ESPN’s Chris Low reports that former USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin is joining Jeremy Pruitt’s staff at Tennessee.

January 24, 2019: According to Adam Maya of TrojanSports.com, McCoy was believed to be considering a transfer to Texas. Hours later, the wheels were in motion, as ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren reported McCoy had entered the transfer portal.

January 25, 2019: Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel broke the news that McCoy was indeed becoming a Longhorn. “McCoy has been admitted into school at Texas and is preparing to begin classes in Austin next week,” said Thamel. The Kingsbury departure is cited as a key aspect in the transfer.

January 28, 2019: The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman breaks that USC has hired Graham Harrell as its new offensive coordinator, replacing fellow Texas Tech alum Kingsbury.

April 13, 2019: McCoy has three touches for 16 yards from scrimmage in Texas’s 2019 Spring Game in Austin. During which, the program tweeted what appeared to be a previously unused Signing Day graphic for McCoy, with a 12-19-2018 date.

May 27, 2019: USCFootball.com’s Chris Trevino and Horns247’s Taylor Estes report McCoy is yet again considering a transfer. This time back to USC from Texas.

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And there you have it. The wild last six months of the Bru McCoy saga, which remains to be continued. We’ll keep updating the timeline as it goes on.