Panthers' Mason Harris plans Miami trip

The recruitment of Mason Harris just got interesting.

The Ridgeland High School defensive end, who committed last summer to play football collegiately at South Carolina, got an offer from the University of Miami late last week and plans to take an official visit to the Coral Gables campus on Jan. 28.

"They came and visited me last week and made an offer," said Harris, a Class AAA all-state honoree who had 15 sacks and more than 100 tackles this past season. "I'm going to look and see what happens."

Miami linebackers coach Michael Barrow, the only holdover on the Hurricanes' defensive staff after the hiring of Al Golden as head coach, became impressed with Harris' online highlights and called Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis to get more video. What he saw was more than enough to lead to the offer.

"I sent him some highlight tape and Coach Barrow had him as the third or fourth rush defensive end on their [recruiting] board," Mariakis said. "After I sent him our game tapes, they moved him up to No. 1. It's pretty big for Mason and he's excited about taking the trip. He's in a win-win situation. Whether he goes to South Carolina or Miami, he's going to a great football school."

Harris will make an official visit to South Carolina on the 21st.

His teammate, Devin Bowman, and Dalton offensive lineman Watts Dantzler both say they have not wavered from their decision to commit to the University of Georgia, even as Internet rumors swirled of coaching unrest at the Athens university following the team's bowl loss to Centra Florida.

"I plan on being in school this May," said Bowman, who spent time with Georgia assistant coach Stacy Searels along with Dantzler before the Ridgeland-Dalton basketball game last Friday. "Everything Coach Searels said was positive [about the coaching situation] and that nothing much was going to change. He did say to be ready, that it's going to be tough when I get there."

Dantzler has been keeping up with the Bulldogs' recruiting and was excited to see the program add three commitments last week.

"I think they're going to finish up with a good class," he said. "I heard all the coaching rumors, but I would still go to Georgia if the coaches stayed or left. From what I heard, everything is going to be OK."