Leroy Harris III is a no-nonsense type of kid.
Straight to the point. Focused. Sharp. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s locked-in freshman defensive end shows signs of a bright future in football, and he has been making plays early in his Mocs career.
His answers during a recent interview suggested all of the aforementioned traits, with short answers to questions about the season and his potential, but one response truly showed his quiet confidence. Harris was asked the best lesson he learned from his father, former North Carolina State offensive lineman Leroy Harris Jr., who played seven seasons in the NFL, including six with the Tennessee Titans (he was a starter for them in the 201-11 seasons).
“Sometimes you’ve got to have it in you, man,” the younger Harris said. “You’ve got to be that dawg. Everybody ain’t got it, especially playing football. You’ve got to have that dawg in you.”
Asked if he had it, his answer was quick: “Hell yeah.”
There may not be a ceiling to the potential of the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder, who was a three-star prospect coming out of Nashville’s Christ Presbyterian Academy, which has played for a TSSAA state championship the past six seasons and beat Boyd Buchanan to win last year’s Division II-AA BlueCross Bowl at Finley Stadium. That seemingly limitless potential is part of the reason UTC coaches are finding a way to make sure Harris gets some playing time in every game.
There have been highs for Harris — the 25-yard fumble recovery and return that set up a touchdown two weeks ago against Georgia State in Atlanta; swatting down a pass and forcing a punt in last week’s Southern Conference opener versus Mercer at Finley — but there have been growing pains, too. His overeagerness to get to the quarterback led to a pair of offside penalties in the Tennessee and Georgia State games.
“You’ve got to take every day, keep learning, keep playing,” said Harris, whose position coach is Tyrus Ward. “I try to watch film and go over everything with Coach. I just keep running every day; every rep I get is another experience to learn something.”
Ward said UTC coaches considered Harris “definitely a steal” for the Mocs in recruiting.
“When I went to go watch him play in high school, he just stuck out with his length,” Ward said. “He runs track, ran the hurdles, so we knew he was an athlete, and sometimes his film didn’t do him too much justice because at CPA, he won so many games that sometimes he was done by halftime.
“But he’s an overall good player, good student-athlete in terms of he takes care of and conducts himself like almost a senior in terms of off the field; has a great family background; very, very extremely coachable and just plays so hard. He’s kind of everything you want all in one player.”
After an 0-3 run to open the season, the Mocs did not have a game this weekend, and the past week was an opportunity for them to refocus in a lot of ways and start figuring stuff out. The players say that no confidence has been lost despite the slow start, with the blowout at Tennessee followed by losses to Georgia State and Mercer by a combined 10 points. Just based off that, the team realizes it still has a chance to be good.
The Mocs remain nationally ranked in the Football Championship Subdivision, just as they have been all season — currently 23rd in the Stats Perform Top 25 and 24th in the coaches poll — and they’ll return to competition next Saturday when Big Sky Conference member Portland State visits Finley for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
A lot of the traits that have been assigned to the team can also be applied to Harris. Mistakes have been made in some key moments, but much like the Mocs, if Harris figures things out, there’s no telling what he could accomplish.
“Leroy has picked some things up,” UTC head coach Rusty Wright said. “We’ve tried to keep it simple for him, keep him in the same spot, and he works really hard at trying to be right, and he’s athletic and long, and he’s got a good career ahead of him. He has no idea how much bigger and stronger he’s going to get in the next two years, and I don’t know if he has a ceiling, honestly. He’s got a good motor, all those things you want in a guy like that. Long, athletic, and the stronger he gets, the better he’ll get, and the more he plays, the better he’ll get.
“He should be a good player for us, I hope for a long time.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.