Brian Kelly updates where Denver Harris stands with program after playing in Week 2
Denver Harris continues to impress. On Sunday, LSU head coach Brian Kelly addressed his transfer cornerback’s progress in the program.
“He’s making progress,” Kelly said. “There’s a lot of work to be done. But I’m not going to put a guy on the field unless he is committed to our process. He is not there yet. But, I don’t know if there’s any one guy can say in our program has got it down, yet.”
Harris transferred to LSU this offseason after spending his freshman season at Texas A&M. While there, the former five-star recruit appeared in 5 games with no starts, collecting 14 tackles and 3 pass breakups.
Harris didn’t immediately fit in with the Tigers. The Texas native missed some time during fall camp for what Kelly had called “personal matters,” but he had returned to camp by mid-August. Despite his return, Harris did not appear in LSU’s season opener against Florida State.
Evidently, something changed between Week 1 and Week 2. Harris not only receiving playing time in LSU’s 72-10 win over Grambling State, he started, recording a pass deflection. Kelly claims Harris’ increased playing time is due to his dedication.
“He is committed to it,” Kelly said. “If you’re committed to it, we’re gonna work with you. It’s the guys that are not committed to it, guys that don’t want to do the little things the right way, that we’re gonna let you figure it out. And, we’ll let you figure it out watching. [Harris] tried that. He didn’t like watching. So he’s doing a good job.”
Only a matter of time for Denver Harris
Although, at times, Harris’ future with LSU looked perilous, insiders suspected his ascension was only a matter of time. The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon opened up on Harris’ status before the season on the Andy Staples On3 show, highlighting some of the potential issues at play.
“We’ve gotten to see Denver Harris out there, and he started out the first week, running second team,” Dixon told On3’s Andy Staples. “And it kind of felt like OK, they’re dangling the carrot and they’re motivating him and they want him to take charge.
“Well, in very short order, he was third team and with guys who were walk-ons and in a room where you already lost one of your transfers, JK Johnson, to injury during fall camp. Now, you’re down to two transfers in Duce Chestnut and Zy Alexander. Those two get every first-team rep, and now Denver’s third team? We just saw things in practice with the media being there of kind of piping back at the coaches or whatever it might be to where you’re like, ‘Oh man, this isn’t what you normally see and you’re not seeing that from anywhere else.’”
Obviously, fans didn’t have to watch Harris sit for long. See Harris take the field again on Saturday as LSU squares off against Mississippi State at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.