LSU brings back Austin Thomas as player personnel director

May 9, 2016 - 10:01 PM BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) LSU head football coach Les Miles says he has brought director of player personnel Austin Thomas back to his staff after Thomas' brief departure for Southern California.

Miles, who made the announcement Monday, says Thomas also will receive the title of assistant athletic director.

Thomas has organized and managed much of LSU's evaluation and recruiting efforts since joining the Tigers nearly three years ago. He left for USC this offseason, only to be lured back by Miles about three months later.

Miles describes Thomas as ''extremely talented and detail-oriented'' and says Thomas has ''played a big role in our recruiting success.''

Thomas began his college sports career as a recruiting intern at Tennessee in 2008. He was also Bowling Green's director of recruiting and player-personnel before first joining LSU's staff.