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| Grand Rapids (MI) Christian wide receiver Drake Harris |
Harris stands 6'4", 180 lbs. and claims a 4.39 forty. As a junior in 2012, he had 91 receptions for 2,015 yards and 25 touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2011, he caught 57 passes for 1,118 yards and 14 touchdowns.
RATINGS
ESPN: N/A
Rivals: 4-star, #4 WR, # 56 overall
Scout: 4-star, #3 WR
247 Sports: 4-star, 97 grade, #3 WR, #36 overall
Harris camped at Michigan last June but committed to Michigan State a week later, largely because he planned to play basketball; MSU coach Tom Izzo has quite a reputation for coaching that sport and getting his players to the NBA. It made some sense if Harris wanted to pursue a professional basketball career. But as time went on, Harris started to realize that 6'4" shooting guards are a dime a dozen across the nation, whereas 6'4" wideouts are a little rarer of a commodity. Then he started visiting Michigan weekend after weekend for basketball games, decommitted in mid-March, and visited Michigan again for the spring game on Saturday.
Harris is a tall, lanky receiver. As a basketball player, he can catch the ball away from his body, and he understands how to use his body to shield the defender from the ball. He shows very good acceleration and has the ability to get on top of cornerbacks very quickly; he runs crisp routes and adjusts well to the ball in the air. Once he gets in the open field, he's difficult to bring down because of his speed and his ability to stutter step, change direction, and accelerate. Michigan should be able to use him as deep threat, but he also has the ability to take short passes and turn them into big plays. He shows a willingness and ability to block, too, so he's a good all-around receiver.
I think Harris needs to improve his consistency catching the ball with his hands - he can do it, but he doesn't do it enough. He also needs to put on some weight to make him a more effective runner with the ball in his hands; that would help him with his blocking, too.
Overall, Harris is a very high level prospect and seems to be pretty accurately ranked among the top few receivers in the country. There would also seem to be some room for improvement since he has been concentrating on basketball up to this point, too. Michigan probably has plans of getting him up into the 210-215 lb. range and making him a durable, NFL-caliber wideout. His size, stride, and skill set make him look a little bit like former Michigan wideout Braylon Edwards, although that would be a tough level to reach for just about anyone; Edwards was dominant as an upperclassman at Michigan and turned into one of the top few picks in the NFL Draft.
Harris plans to enroll early in January 2014. Michigan will likely take a few wide receivers in the 2014 class, but Harris will probably be the headliner when all is said and done. He might even end up being Michigan's best player in the class, although the coaches are still pursuing the elite of the elite like Da'Shawn Hand and Jabrill Peppers. The coaches are also going after Harris's teammate Tommy Doles, a center prospect who is also seriously considering Northwestern; supposedly, Harris and Doles are friendly but not extremely close, so one may not affect the other.
TTB Rating: 93 (ratings explanation)
WR was the one position we were not landing elite talent. Glad to see us pick up a 5* player.
ReplyDeleteYou're giving Izzo too much credit, he has not been great at developing future NBA players. Final Fours, yes. NBA players, not that many when compared to top NCAA programs.
Izzo has one (1) NC to his name. That is it. As far as putting people in the NBA, he has done that, somewhat. This list says only five (5) Spartys are playing now.
Deletehttp://www.rpiratings.com/NBA.php
Mich has two (2). Kentucky is the leader with twenty (20).
I'm not claiming that Izzo is the NCAA's best coach. But during Harris's youth, he's done a better job of getting kids to the next level than Michigan's coaches. Considering Harris is a local kid, his basketball decision made some sense.
DeleteMy hope is he will be awarded the #1 jersey after he 'earns' it and from what I see on the tape, he has a lot of upside.
ReplyDeleteWe will finally be able to stretch the D again from what I see in his speed. That at the very least should get him some snaps his Freshman year.
More bullets for Borges to fire!
So pumped about Harris committing to M. How may WR's do you think we take? Sounds like things are trending positively for KJ Williams, as well as Daniel Helm.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Helm, do you know if he is the top TE on the coaches' board?
I think Michigan will take three wide receivers in 2014.
DeleteHelm is likely not the top TE on the coaches' board; there were a handful of guys with offers before he received his.
A TTB rating of 93 puts Johnson in good company. Only Green (95), Kalis (95), and Ross (94) have ranked higher.
ReplyDeleteUm, *Harris*, I mean.
DeleteThanks. Should we be concerned about the supposed low level of competition he plays against?
ReplyDeleteWell, he's not going to make 91 receptions for 2,015 yards and 25 touchdowns when he gets to college. So in that sense, yeah, he's not going to be THAT productive. But I don't think this is a case of a guy with mediocre talent abusing less talented kids. The speed, leaping ability, etc. are all there.
DeleteHis jump-ball ability and YAC moves seem a little like those of Junior Hemmingway (though Harris is clearly faster). Hemmingway had a serious knack for YAC.
ReplyDeleteI just don't see Hemingway when I watch Harris. They're different body types, have a different stride, have different skills, etc.
DeleteSeems to have many of the same jump ball skills and YAC moves as Junior Hemmingway, no? That would certainly be a nice combination of attributes if it works out that way.
ReplyDeleteAny reason why you chose Braylon instead? Harris is clearly a much faster player than Hemmingway, I suppose.
Hi Thunder, how would you compare Harris with Treadwell when Treadwell was a junior? If you can choose only one of them, which on do you prefer? Wondering if Treadwell could have scored a 93....
ReplyDeleteTreadwell might have been higher than 93, because he was perhaps the best WR in the 2013 class.
DeleteI think Harris is a better route runner than Treadwell, but Treadwell is probably a little more physical. They're pretty similar in level of talent, though, in my opinion.
If I had a house, I'd bet it that Harris is no taller than 6'1 1/2" (or maybe 6'2"). There's a picture of him standing next to the 6'6" (at most, given that heights are rarely underreported) Wilton Speight and Harris is giving up at least four inches. Still, he's not short or anything.
ReplyDeleteI think he looks a little like OSU's Robert Smith from the neck up, FWIW.
A note on Anonymous 10:07: I agree that Izzo hasn't put many guys in the NBA compared to other high-profile programs. With a few exceptions (Kelvin Torbert comes to mind immediately), though, he hasn't consistently been working with Top10/Top25 guys. His bread-and-butter is the 35-100 range, where guys aren't expected to wind up in the pros.
First let me say Izzo is a great coach, one of the top 5 in the country. But your point is not solid. For example he has 3 All Americans on the roster right now (Payne, Dawson, Appling) - only one of those is on track for an NBA career. A further counterpoint - Trey Burke and Darius Morris. Were those guys top 25 guys coming out of HS? Heck not even top 100 guys. Izzo gets far better talent out of HS (or did) until recently.
DeleteKentucky is now an unfair comparison because the whole pitch now for the school is one and done but Izzo supposedly should be pushing out talent in the Kansas, UNC, Duke range or one notch below. Other than Zach Randolph and Jason Richardson I can't think of too many impactful player he has sent to the NBA (Morris Peterson did little) but that's NOT HIS JOB. His job is to be a great college coach which he is. Of course recruits look at the pipeline when deciding what school to go to but he is still getting top end HS talent all things relative.
"A further counterpoint - Trey Burke and Darius Morris. Were those guys top 25 guys coming out of HS?"
DeleteCounterpoint to what, exactly? What do Burke and Darius have to do with Izzo?
I'll buy your example of Payne. Izzo has a lousy track record with "bigs." Dawson had a bad injury and I think it's too early to write him off. Appling? Probably at least a decent example in support of your point.
"... he is still getting top end HS talent all things relative ..."
I don't have the data in front of me that I'd need to refute that, but I stand (as much as I can, anyway) by my point that Izzo gets less than guys like Roy Williams (an all-time underachiever when his talent base is considered) and Bill Self.
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Sorry to go OT here, TTB readers.
Kelvin Torbert has spent his professional career mostly in France and Belgium and is a great example of what happens to kids that go through Izzo's program.
ReplyDeleteMSU is the system school of them all when it comes to Hoops, as Izzo coaches pounding the boards and playing defense at the expense of other aspects of the game. This is an outstanding approach for making tournament runs as the refs turn off their whistles in March unless it happens to be on a play featuring the single greatest block anybody has ever seen anywhere ever in the history of basketball and not not just in a National Championship game, probably mostly because even though they didn't actually see a foul their unconscious minds suggested that this specific play was not physically possible ..... just sayin'.
Anyway, Harris would have become the next Kelvin Torbert at MSU and was seemingly smart enough to figure that one out.