‘Strong’ Ole Miss defensive line room ready ‘to get after some people’ in 2023
One standard question always asked of recruits/transfer players is “why did you choose Ole Miss over __________?”
The answers are usually pretty standard, too. Nice campus, like the coaches, teammates seemed cool, it seemed like family, NIL, etc. Those are all legitimate reasons why a player chooses Ole Miss over school X, but with Defensive Tackle Joshua Harris, who came to Ole Miss from North Carolina State, it was something a little different. Not off the charts different, but refreshingly different.
“It was (DL) Coach (Randall) Joyner’s energy,” Harris said this week. “He is energized all the time. He never changes – he is a ball of energy every time you see him. That is contagious.
“I thought to myself, why not be like him? Why not be the same way? Then when I got here, it was the same and everyone is buying into it. It’s a high level of energy all the time in our room.”
Joyner, Harris added, has a saying that everyone in the defensive line room tries to adhere to.
“He has a saying ‘Better Your Best’ that I really listen to,” he continued. “We always try to get better than our best was the day before. It is a motivator.”
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Joyner apparently has motivated Harris in more ways than one, namely weight loss.
“I was in the 380s at NC State for a while and I played here in spring in the high 330s, but I came here to learn to be a better pass rusher and you can’t do that unless you can move,” he explained. “I’m down now to around 320-325 and I can tell it has helped my movement and ability to rush the passer, get off the ball quicker.”
That’s not the only benefit of being lighter, Harris noted.
“My stamina is so much better too. I feel I’m in better shape and can last longer at full efficiency,” he noted.
Harris said he has always been a good run stopper, but now he feels he is a more complete player, capable of rushing the passer.
“I was always pretty good at being able to take on double teams and still make a play or hold the two linemen off the linebackers so they could make a play,” he stated. “I still feel like I am capable of doing that even at my lighter weight.”
Right now, around midway through fall camp, it looks as if Harris will be in the DT rotation along with sophomore Zxavian Harris, senior J.J. Pegues and senior Stephon Wynn, the transfer from Nebraska.
“I think all four of us bring something to the table that is valuable,” Joshua closed. “I think we are going to have a strong room and we are going to get after some people.”
In the meantime, Joshua Harris will be trying to take Coach Joyner’s lead and “Better His Best.”
It’s turned into his way of life on the football field.
