BATON ROUGE – Austin Thomas, a member of the LSU football staff since 2013, has been named by FootballScoop.com as the 2015 Player Personnel Director of the Year, the website announced on Friday.

Thomas just completed his third football season with the Tigers where among his primary responsibilities include prospect evaluation, management of recruiting events, and management of the LSU football roster. He was one of three finalists for the award a year ago.

Thomas helped LSU produce back-to-back top 5 recruiting classes for LSU in 2014 and 2015 and the Tigers on the verge of a top 3 class this year.

“This is a great honor for Austin,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “He’s critical to our success in the recruiting process and then he does a great job assisting with the off-field development of our players once they arrive on campus. He’s one of those behind-the-scenes guys who play such an important role in our success as a program.”

With Thomas’ help, LSU landed the nation’s No. 1 overall rated recruit in running back Leonard Fournette in 2014.

“Austin is a future NFL general manager, there’s not a doubt in my mind,” LSU recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach Frank Wilson said. “I’ve never worked with someone as talented as he is in this role.”

A 2008 graduate of Lipscomb University, Thomas jumped into college football as a recruiting intern at Tennessee while earning a Master’s degree in sport management. He then spent a season as a defensive assistant under Monte Kiffin, and followed head coach Lane Kiffin to USC, where he spent one season as a defensive intern and recruiting assistant before moving into operations in 2011.

Thomas was promoted to assistant director of operations and recruiting in 2012, and parlayed that into a brief stay as Bowling Green’s director of recruiting and player personnel. Thomas joined the Tigers’ staff in April of 2013.

The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by ProGrass are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Mike Dooley [Clemson], Adrian Mayes [Houston] and Thomas) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year’s winner.

Thomas will be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention next week.

Previous winners of the Player Personnel Director of the Year award are Tyler Siskey (Alabama) and Mark Pantoni (Ohio State).