SLUH players vote Mizzou commit Keenan Harris captain for senior season
ST. LOUIS — Adam Cruz flipped through ballots. As he started to tally captain votes for the 2025 football season, he noticed his star linebacker, Keenan Harris, one short of a unanimous decision.
Cruz, the head coach at St. Louis (Mo.) University High, recognized the hand writing on one select ballot and knew Harris, a Class of 2026 three-star committed to Missouri and English student of his football coach, gave a teammate a boost with his final vote.
“I think a lot of kids on a private ballot vote for themselves,” Cruz said Monday. “I just think it’s cool how he chose five other teammates instead of casting a vote for himself.”
Harris received 78 of the 79 votes for captain, falling one short of a unanimous decision by his own choice.
Harris will serve as the Junior Billikens’ speaking captain for a second straight season. The designation came with trust in him handling conversations with referees before the start of each game.
During Monday’s practice, the final one before mid-week scrimmages with other St. Louis-area schools, Harris showed off his voice. From talking with teammates about nicknames and summer jobs and joking around with players in other position groups, he boasted confidence and personality.
“My voice, after a while, sounds like Charlie Brown’s teachers,” said Cruz, who’s asked Harris to hold teammates accountable on and off the field. “Sometimes they gotta hear it from different places, and they’re gonna be maybe more responsive when they hear it from a teammate rather than me.”
That accountability started Harris’ freshman season in 2022. After a 37-20 loss to St. Louis (Mo.) De Smet, SLUH broke into practice the next week with a sluggish feel, and Harris set the tone right away.
“We were lallygagging, and he got into a senior’s face in a drill about not going hard enough,” Cruz said. “We were fired up and had a really good practice after that. Even as a freshman, he wasn’t scared to hold guys accountable.”