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USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell had two very different learning experiences as a quarterback that he says both funneled into shaping his philosophy now in his coaching career.

There was, of course, his time putting up record-setting stats at Texas Tech while leading the offense for Air Raid guru and one-of-a-kind personality Mike Leach, and then there were his years with the Green Bay Packers playing behind NFL legend Aaron Rodgers and winning a Super Bowl ring along the way.

Harrell shared some great perspective and stories about both of those experiences while joining the Trojan Talk podcast.

LISTEN: Hear our full conversation with Graham Harrell on the Trojan Talk podcast

"I think what I've tried to do as a coach is kind of take Coach Leach's philosophy of being simple and doing what we do, and again my dad had that same similar philosophy as a high school coach -- so the philosophy was kind of ingrained with me my whole life until I got to Green Bay. Take that offensive philosophy and try to combine it with being great at the small things that we learned in Green Bay and seeing Aaron do that and how important it was to him that the routes and his feet timed up," Harrell said. "... That's something I took from Aaron. He's really talented and does a lot of great things, but the attention to detail he has I think also separates him from other people, and I've tried to take that with me in my coaching career.

"So like I said, my time in Green Bay, it was awesome, I had a ton of fun, and at the time I wasn't thinking this is going to make me such a better coach whenever I decide to coach. But now looking back it ... seeing it done a different way strengthened my philosophy in what we do here, seeing the details, seeing how much the small things really do matter, especially if nothing else with a quarterback's psyche, I took that with me."

Leach has certainly had a profound impact on Harrell's football career both as a player and a coach.

Leading that Red Raiders offense from 2006-08 (plus some limited duty in 2005) -- an offense that then was ahead of its time with its commitment to the passing game -- Harrell racked up 15,793 passing yards and 134 touchdowns.

He now ranks fourth in NCAA FBS history in passing yards behind Houston's Case Keenum (19.217), Hawaii's Timmy Chang (17,072) and Oklahoma's Landry Jones (16,646) -- Keenum and Chang compiled their stats in four-plus seasons as a starter (with an injury-shortened season mixed in) and Jones in four seasons as a starter, while Harrell racked up his numbers in three years as the starter plus 37 completions as a freshman. And Harrell is third all-time in passing touchdowns behind Keenum (155) and Boise State's Kellen Moore (142).

Leach was just as big a factor in this new chapter of Harrell's football career as well, though. When Harrell decided to transition out of his professional playing career and pursue coaching, he was about to take a job in the high school ranks back in Texas before Leach heard about it and brought him to Washington State as an assistant coach in 2014.