No one has ever doubted Denver Harris' ability as a football player.
A year ago, the then-Houston North Shore High star arrived as Texas A&M rated by Rivals as the 21st best high school recruit in the nation and the fourth best cornerback nationally.
And last season as an Aggies’ freshman after his first five games, Pro Football Focus graded Harris as the highest ranking freshman cornerback in the SEC and third highest in all of college football.
He had 14 tackles and three pass deflections, allowed just four catches for 28 yards and one score on 211 snaps. In three of his five games, he was targeted one or less times, which included the Alabama game, where was targeted just once, allowing zero receptions.
But five games is all Harris played because of his repeated off-the-field senseless decisions that led to suspensions that sidelined him most of the year.
The night before A&M’s home game against Miami last September 17, Harris snuck away from the team hotel with some teammates to attend a party 50 miles away at Prairie View A&M. He was suspended.
Then, he and two teammates were suspended for the season after having the audacity to vape in the A&M dressing room immediately after a 30-24 loss at South Carolina last Oct. 20.
Harris, the stepson of former LSU men’s basketball standout Tack Minor, entered the transfer portal in December. He had no choice since A&M coach Jimbo Fisher didn’t want him to return.
That’s when LSU head coach Brian Kelly stepped in. He and his recruiting staff had already proven in year one their knack of filling the Tigers’ needs with talented, high-character athletes.
The Tigers finished 10-4 last season and 6-2 as the SEC Western Division champions with eight transfers starting nine or more games such QB Jayden Daniels (Arizona State), All-SEC first team DT Mehki Wingo (Missouri), safeties Greg Brooks and Joe Foucha (both Arkansas), CBs Jarrick Bernard-Converse (Oklahoma State) and Mehki Garner (UL-Lafayette), OG Tre’Mond Shorts (East Tennessee State) and P Jay Bramblett (Notre Dame).
In the 2023 transfer portal recruiting, Kelly needed immediate help at cornerback where the Tigers lost starters who had transfer portal plug-ins.
It’s why he took a long, hard look at Harris.
“This was not a decision that we just said `Here's a great player, we had the fit,’” Kelly said Tuesday after LSU’s third spring practice. “We did a lot of research. We felt like, you know, we did our due diligence in terms of his background. There's a family affiliation with LSU.
“He (Harris) had a lot of people speak on his behalf. He had a number of interviews with with (defensive coordinator) Coach (Matt) House and myself. We felt with the culture we have put together here, he would make it here because the culture is really strong. It's proven to be that.
"He's done well early on. He has no choice. He has to make it. He knows that this is really his last chance at an SEC opportunity. And so far, so good.”
Here’s Kelly on other subjects:
On re-recruiting QB Jayden Daniels
“We had to recruit him back, so we had to give him a comprehensive plan as what we were going to do in the weight room, how we were going to continue to develop him technically as a quarterback, all of those pieces utilizing the resources that we have here.
"It was really just having a comprehensive year-round training program for him right here. And then providing him the opportunity to do other things as well, providing him the contacts to go out on the West Coast and train with other elite quarterbacks. When we were able to meet and he saw that we had a comprehensive plan, and I think it helped him make his decision."
On team strength and conditioning improvement in the past year
“The Friday before we left for spring break, we had nine players run 20 miles an hour or more. We only had one the year before. So, that tells us a little bit about our speed and strength.
“Being much deeper within our entire team. I think we've looked at all of our numbers, and it's pretty clear our football team is bigger, faster, stronger.
“We clearly feel like we've addressed some depth needs but you wouldn't know that today. You know, we've got eight healthy linemen out there. So, we're actually in a different position than we were last year and that we have to be a lot more careful in terms of what we're doing. We've got some help on the way which will help us during the season.”
On the maturity and leadership of returning sophomore offensive tackle Emery Jones
“Ii starts with how he handles himself. Away from the field, he makes good choices, good decisions. He's never on a list. And when I say a list, he's never on an academic report. He's never on any of the lists relative to being late to anything. He's reliable.
“I was telling our guys the other day in my three decades of being head coach, if there's one question I'm asked over and over from GMs and head coaches is `Is he reliable, is he gonna be on time? Can I count on him?’
"This is a guy you can count on. He's so reliable and that just goes to his parenting. His background is high school. You know where he came from. He's exceptional.”
On new college football rules designed to speed up the game such as keeping the clock running on first downs while an official spots the ball at the line of scrimmage except during the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters.
"The NFL has done a great job of taking every play and maximizing each one of those and each one of those opportunities, whether it be through shifting and motioning and in trying to get the defense in, in positions where they're leveraged. I really think that offensively some colleges have gotten away from that and they're just trying to run as many plays as they can. I think it (the rules change) puts an emphasis back on execution. You better be an offense that executes and does a really good job from play to play. And you can't be loose and careless. You have to be focused and really disciplined.”
On any possible position changes
“The only positions that we've made are to function in practice. We moved a couple of guys on the offensive line just so we can get some good work and practice. The only position that opens us up to potentially moving some people around is we have some pretty good depth in the (defensive) backfield. There are some guys there that could possibly play a couple of different positions. I don't know who they are right now and we'll continue to monitor that. But I don't see anywhere else that really would put us in a position where somebody would move to the other side of the ball.”
