Brian Kelly sheds light on adding Denver Harris
One year ago, Denver Harris left high school as a five-star prospect and the No. 3 cornerback on the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2022 class.
College football staffs across the country battled for his commitment, and LSU was heavily in the mix.
In the end, Harris decided to stay in the Lone Star State and sign with Texas A&M.
When the Houston native was on the field, the results backed up his lofty ranking.
Harris was named to the On3 2022 Midseason True Freshman All-American Team in October. At the time, Harris had played 211 snaps for the Aggies and surrendered just four completions on 11 targets for just 28 yards. On the four completions, Harris gave up just one yard after the catch.
The issue, clearly, wasn’t performance.
Instead, it was road bumps off the field.
Harris was suspended for the team’s opener against Miami in September after missing curfew. In late-October, Harris was part of a group of players who were suspended indefinitely following an alleged incident in the team’s locker room.
He never returned to the field for the Aggies after that, and on December 2, Harris entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
20 days later, Harris committed to LSU.
What happened in those three weeks between his departure from College Station and his decision to play for LSU head coach Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge?
“Obviously we did a lot of research,” Kelly said on Tuesday following LSU’s third spring practice. “This was not a decision where we just said ‘Hey, here’s a great player’. He had to fit. We felt like we did our due diligence in terms of his background. There’s an affiliation with LSU here with his family. He had a lot of people speak on his behalf. He had a number of interviews with (LSU defensive coordinator Matt House) and myself.”
Ultimately, the decision to take Harris came down to fit.
While there were a number of players who were suspended by Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher and later left the team, Kelly said the foundation he’s built in the locker room at LSU helped give Harris the green light to join the roster.
“We felt that with the culture we have put together, he would make it here,” Kelly said. “The culture is really strong. It’s proven to be that he’s done well early on, and he has no choice. He has to make it. Here’s a guy that’s been given a second chance. And we feel like because of the circumstances, the culture is strong, and he knows this is really his last chance at an SEC opportunity, that it was worth the risk.
“And so far, so good.”
Harris joins an LSU cornerback room that is looking to replace multiple starters from a year ago.
The Tigers return just one scholarship cornerback in freshman Laterrance Welch, which pushed the staff to add four transfers at the position.
Harris is joined by Southeastern’s Zy Alexander, Ohio State’s JK Johnson and Syracuse’s Duce Chestnut as the incoming transfers this spring. Chestnut is injured and not participating in spring practices, while Harris – and Alexander and Johnson – have been available for each of the three practices this month.
