Hello: Drake Harris
(via)
Grand Rapids (MI) Christian wide receiver Drake Harris announced his commitment to Michigan today on Twitter:
Just officially committed to The University Of Michigan!
— Drake Harris™ (@drizzygetbusy01) April 14, 2013
Harris, of course, initially committed to Michigan State as a two-sport athlete—he's also an excellent basketball player—but decided to open up his recruitment when he chose to focus on football in college, saying he wanted to compete for a national championship. It appears that Harris believes he's got a better shot of doing that in Ann Arbor than East Lansing.
ADDITIONAL RIVAL SCHADENFREUDE PART ONE:
Harris was in Columbus on Friday. As in, like, two days ago. But sure, Buckeye fans, there's no chance this ends in disappointment:
mgoblue.com/sports/m-footb… RT @11w Don't expect Urban Meyer to stop recruiting Drake Harris. Flipping a Michigan kid is the best.
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) April 14, 2013
Something tells me that next trip isn't actually happening.
Anyway, informative update ahoy!
GURU RATINGS
Scout | Rivals | ESPN | 24/7 Sports |
4*, #3 WR, #26 Ovr |
4*, #4 WR, #56 Ovr |
ESPN150 Watch List |
4*, 97, #3 WR, #36 Ovr |
Harris is regarded as one of the four best receivers in the country by each of the services that have released rankings; if he maintained his overall ranking on Scout and 247, he'd be in position to earn a fifth star by Signing Day (he's just one spot away on Scout as it is). All but Scout (6'3", 175 lbs.) list Harris at 6'4" and 180-185 lbs.—he fits the Borges ideal of a big, athletic outside receiver.
On Harris' Scout profile page, his strengths are listed as "Body Control", "Hands and Concentration", and "Route-Running Skills", with strength his only listed area for improvement. Midwest analyst Allen Trieu provides this free scouting report:
Has truly elite ball skills. Height, leaping ability and body control allow him to go up and adjust to passes most would not come down with. Is a glider on the field, and as a result, is faster than most will give him credit for. Can get deep, and is also good after the catch. Smooth, polished route runner who understands how to set up defenders and create separation. Willing and effective blocker, but must add weight and strength. - Allen Trieu
When putting together a list of each region's top prospects, Scout's staff mentioned Harris as one of the Midwest's best players ($):
Harris is a great athlete who is very natural at going up and getting the ball and does everything on the field as smooth as can be. He answered questions about his level of competition in the state title game, where he dominated despite being double teamed by a good team.
About that state title game...
Grand Rapids Christian’s Drake Harris set an MHSAA championship game record with 243 yards and one touchdown on eight receptions. Harris finished with over 2,000 receiving yards for the season; only the 12th person nationally to do so.
Grand Rapids Christian defeated a very solid Orchard Lake St. Mary's squad in that game; OLSM featured a very solid junior corner named Jalen Watts-Jackson, who has an Idaho offer and could see increased D-I interest. Harris, well, destroyed everything.
ESPN's evaluation echoes Scout's discussion of deceptive speed; again, strength and bulk are the only major areas of concern ($):
Possesses great height and wingspan with below average bulk, average strength and deceptively good top-end speed. Can build the speed off the line of scrimmage to run past defenders if given cushion. Can cover five yards in two strides consistently. Long-legged athlete with above-average quickness that will improve with increased strength, but he already has the initial quickness to escape press. Will run the short crossing routes and make catches with good concentration in contact situations. Has very good hand-eye coordination and focus. Snatches the ball out of the air in awkward positions. He is a natural hand plucker away from his frame, but will cradle some catches at times. Has shown quick feet and good body control to provide definition at the break point and to get his feet down on the sideline and end line. Not much wiggle, but surprising acceleration to outrun defender's angles.
His ability to haul in jump balls also comes in for high praise.
Tim Sullivan caught Harris last fall against East Grand Rapids; despite needing to add strength, Harris displayed good toughness, and Tim correctly predicted that he'd end up focusing on the gridiron over the hardwood ($):
His combination of height and speed made him an excellent deep threat for the Eagles, and though East Grand Rapids spent a lot of time bracketing him in coverage, he still managed to get behind the secondary on a couple occasions. Often, when an athlete considers himself a basketball player first and a football player second, you expect a bit of toughness to be lacking. That wasn't the case with Harris, who was willing to go over the middle and take a hit while still holding onto the ball. He also put in full effort on the rare occasion that he was asked to block. ... In all, it might not be long before Harris considers himself a football player first and a basketball player second - he's just that good on the gridiron.
Harris showed the ability to catch the ball away from his body, as well. To sum it up, Harris is a lanky, deceptively fast athlete who provides a solid deep threat, jump ball ability, and even the willingness to block and run routes over the middle. Once he gets into a college weight program, it appears he'll be the complete package at wide receiver.
OFFERS
In addition to Michigan, Harris held offers from Alabama, Cal, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, among several others.
HIGH SCHOOL
Grand Rapids Christian won the Division 3 state championship last fall, led by Harris and 2014 offensive lineman Tommy Doles, who also holds a Michigan offer. Despite their recent success, GRC hasn't produced a BCS commit—or anyone ranked above a two-star—in the Rivals era.
STATS
According to 247, Harris caught 91 passes for 2015 yards (22.1 ypc) and 25 touchdowns in his junior season, numbers that are impressive to say the least. As a sophomore, he hauled in a mere 45 receptions for 950 yards (21.1 ypc) and ten TDs.
FAKE 40 TIME
Because of his focus on basketball until recently, Harris hasn't hit the football camp circuit hard, and there's not a readily-available 40 time for him based on a quick Googlestalk. His highlight tape lists a 4.39-second 40, which I'm giving four FAKEs out of five (that's an elite electronic time for an NFL wide receiver).
VIDEO
There's also a highlight package from last year's state title game:
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
There's going to be plenty of opportunity for Harris to make an immediate impact when he steps on campus; in 2014, Jeremy Gallon, Drew Dileo, and Jeremy Jackson will have graduated, leaving an as-of-yet unproven group of receivers, none of whom have Harris' blue-chip recruiting profile. It also helps that he plans to enroll early, per TomVH. If he lives up to the hype, Harris should at least compete with Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson, and perhaps one or more of the 2013 wide receiver signees for a starting role, and it'd be a surprise if he didn't see the field as a freshman. From there, he's got NFL potential and should be a big-impact player for Michigan.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Harris is Michigan's fifth commit—the first at wide receiver—in a class that currently is expected to have around 16 members, at least until that number goes up due to attrition. Harris fills the biggest need in the class as an elite, field-stretching receiver; other needs include strongside DE (where Michigan is in good shape for five-stars Da'Shawn Hand and Malik McDowell) and inside linebacker (Michael Ferns projects to the strong side, and M will take one more). Otherwise, the coaches can largely focus on bringing in elite talent regardless of position, as Brady Hoke and Co. have done an extremely impressive job of filling in the many holes on the depth chart in the last couple of classes.
Kid only decommitted because he decided he didn't want to play basketball - just football. Then made a pretty quick decision on a football school. I see zero drama. The "I want to look at football powerhouses (aka not msu)" comment is just some fun salt in the wounds for Sparty fans.
Drake's dad is a big Michigan fan.
Until I realized they are playing my old high school in it. =/
Oh well, he'll be a good guy this time next year.
Woohoo!
Just what the coach ordered, an elite WR.
I've watched numerous of Drake's HS games, and the kid's initial acceleration that he gets is unreal. He will be the deep threat that Michigan has been looking for for a long time.
"Ferns to the strong side"?
Seems like we are looking very hard for a SAM to complete this class of linebackers, so Ferns is most likely seen as an inside LB.
Great news, and welcome to the fold. Looks like a lot of those elite HS WRs - a little lanky and growing into his body, but should be able to put on the weight and dominate after a year or two. Will be fun seeing him and Morris for a couple of years.
I was really hoping we would land Harris even more after hearing his father speak following his decommitment from State. I was very impressed by what his father said. They seem to be a grounded family with their priorities straight. We are getting a high character kid who will represent Michigan Football in a positive manner both on and off the field.
Absolutely great news!
Negged for "little sisters" reference.
Srsly.
Where's the threa....oh. There it is.
This could be a case where Denard's injury was a blessing in disguise. While his absence hurt our running game, our downfield passing game improved with Gardner at QB and Gallon's production soared down the stretch. That allowed Hoke & Co. to show recruits that they could, in fact, come here and put up big receiving numbers.
I can't wait to see him with an elite QB throwing to him, as well. His HS QB doesn't look BAD, but he has to wind up and throw rainbows for anything over 25 yards. For a deep threat like Harris, a DIV I QB that can throw 40 yard frozen ropes will be a huge blessing. When he doesn't have to slow up to get that ball, his ability to adjust on the fly will mean everything.
GRC's HS QB was all-state last year and was very accurate. This fall, it will be a question-mark in terms of who will be the GRC QB. It probably won't be someone near as good as last years QB, and so Harris's overall numbers might be a tad down this fakk.
When's the last time Ohio flipped a UofM recruit?
last years recruiting cycle to be exact. they got Gareon Conley who was commited to michigan at one point
http://michiganstate.247sports.com/Board/93/Is-anybody-else-getting-the…
"UM has the jolly fat man advantage when it comes to recruiting. Hard to beat UM for recruits when they have Santa making visits."
That's just funny. "Ho, Ho, Hoke!"
My personal favorite(s), coming from the more intellectual posters, of course (TOO MANY TO COUNT, AMIRITE?!), are the "Hoke is obviously only negative recruiting MSU", "Who would want to play for Hoke over Dantonio?", "It's like a Big Ten King > MAC peasant", "I hope he gets injured, I don't care" kind of comments. You see it like every other post.
All I'd like to say is this nucky's had it up to here with it. Have a nice day, and Go Blue fergodsake.
If you read through the thread referenced, the RCMB are insinuating that Michigan is cheating and that is why the recruiting has been so solid. They can't believe that any recruit would come to Michigan these days, and I quote, "when there is smoke, there is fire". Some of the delusional ones are convinced Michigan is rampantly cheating to reel in the recruits. If some of the posts don't totally piss you off, it is a humorous read.
April 15th, 2013 at 10:14 AM ^
to NOT go and read the RCMB for their reactions: the butthurt is so bad over there right now that, after only reading one page of posts, I had to leave to avoid a bad hemorrhoidal flare-up.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
I mean I know the NCAA doesnt give a rats ass about cheating but seriously our BBall program has finally clawed its way out of hell after the past 20 years sooooo lets all put our logical thinking hats on and yeah, I dont think a school that had 1 of 2 major mens (and revenue generating) sports, is seriously going to have another scandal involving pay for play.
Man, this is great news. Did not see this coming so soon.
Looking forward to watching many many amazing catches of you in the winged helmet!
Still a long time until signing day and let's be real here, he committed and decommitted to one school aready, so it's definitely a possiblity. That doesn't always mean anything negative, just means sometimes kids make decisions early. Look at how the whole Dawson recruitment turned out.
I'm pretty sure Ferns' Team 135 T-shirts have interwoven mind-control fabric specifically designed to maintain recruits' commitment to UM, so as long as Drake gets his shirt soon this shouldn't be a problem.
April 14th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
we've gotten a commit from since Mario Manningham. And Harris may end up being a better college player when it's all said and done. Great news!
Was supposed to be awesome, but didn't pan out.
April 14th, 2013 at 10:45 PM ^
Do recruiting services ever give players a "star bump" for changing a commitment from one team to another that has a higher level talent base?
If a player chooses to surrond himself with higher level recruits, in theory, he would immediately increase his own stock and abilitiy to perform. It is afterall a team game and I wonder if the star system accounts for that, especially at positoin like WR.
He has solely committed to playing football, and he switched his original commitment from State to a Michigan team, that on paper, has a significantly better QB, RB, OL, TE, Coordinator and WR situation.
IMO, I think he has a much bigger ceiling and is a better prospect now that he is with Michigan. 5 please.
False, everyone knows if you commit to UM you get a ratings bump and if you commit to MSU you are downgraded.
You're right. Actually, maybe we should bump him down to 3 Stars because he was committed to State in the first place. Clearly the recruiting sites need to take into account bad decision making.
Just kidding, this kids awesome and everyone should get the chance to change their mind and pick better college situations.
WEEEEEEEEEE!
It was the sugar bowl, and he said 'drop your panties or get the f*** out'.
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