Denver Harris moving towards a starting role for LSU
Texas A&M transfer Denver Harris was one of the nation’s top prospects leaving high school, checking in as a five-star and the No. 2 cornerback in the On3 rankings for the 2022 class.
During his freshman season at Texas A&M, Harris was an On3 Midseason True Freshman All-American after he played 211 snaps and gave up four completions on 11 targets for just 28 yards.
Then, Harris ran into off-field troubles that resulted in an indefinite suspension that last the remainder of the 2022 season.
In January, Harris transferred from Texas A&M to LSU in hopes of turning a new page as one of the SEC’s most promising young cornerbacks.
Harris making a move towards a starting role?
Harris missed the final week of fall camp in August, and head coach Brian Kelly said the sophomore was “handling some personal matters.”
When Harris didn’t travel for the opener against FSU, the questions came again.
After working mostly with the third-team unit in camp, then being absent from the opener, was Harris still in good standing with the program?
Ahead of LSU’s Week 2 game against Grambling State, Kelly listed Harris as “available”, but didn’t shed any further light on the situation.
When the LSU defense took the field for the first time on Saturday night, Harris – surprisingly – was not just dressed out, but in the starting 11 on defense.
Harris finished with 44 snaps in the game, which was the most of any cornerback on roster.
On Monday, Kelly shared his thoughts on how the debut went for LSU’s highest-ranked transfer.
“I liked his demeanor,” Kelly said. “He didn’t lose his cool in some instances where he got his helmet pulled off a couple of times. He was being held … I think he’s growing. These young men are in a process of growing and learning.”
While Harris is arguably LSU’s most talented cornerback, Kelly said there’s a transition period as the former five-star joins a defense that doesn’t rely solely on press coverage in man-to-man defense.
“He’s learning our coverages,” Kelly said. “He’s a press corner, and we don’t just play press. So, there’s a lot of different things that he’s learning. This is new to him, but he’s learning. He wants to get better at it every day.
“I’m a coach; I want guys that want to be coached. The great part about it is he wants to be coached.”
The outlook at cornerback for LSU
The cornerback position was circled as an unknown for the Tigers this offseason, and through two weeks, the coaching staff has already tried a number of different looks.
Zy Alexander, Sage Ryan and Duce Chesnut were the trio of cornerbacks the Tigers leaned on against Florida State. One week later, Alexander was still in a starting role, while Chesnut saw just one snap, while Ryan played four snaps.
Harris took over first-team cornerback duties opposite Alexander, with Harris getting 44 snaps and Alexander getting 35 snaps. From there, the Tigers tested out backups in true freshman Ashton Stamps, preferred walk-on Ryan Robinson and sophomore Laterrance Welch. All three got double-digit snaps, with Stamps leading the way with 20.
