Drake Harris (image via Rivals)
Redshirt junior Drake Harris announced on Twitter that he’s moving from wide receiver to cornerback. Harris, who’s listed at 6’4″ and 188 lbs., caught 2 passes for 11 yards in 2016 and 6 passes for 39 yards in 2015.
Excited to start my next journey on the defensive side of the ball! Wide receiver ➡️ Cornerback ?
— Drake Harris (@drakeharris14) May 15, 2017
Harris was a highly touted recruit in the 2014 class, but he lost his senior high school season and his true freshman season to repeated hamstring injuries. Hamstring and other issues have continued to hamper him over the past couple years, and he missed the majority of this past spring due to injury. Fair or not, I can’t help wondering if the fact that he’s still 188 lbs. at 6’4″ contributes to his problems.
Anyway, despite being a front-runner at one point for playing time at receiver in 2017, that spot seems to be in good shape with the incoming freshmen. Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones both seem capable of playing immediately, and Michigan returns Maurice Ways, Jr., Eddie McDoom, Kekoa Crawford, and more. Harris had some deep speed, but he couldn’t work out chemistry with his quarterbacks – perhaps because of missing so much time – and 8 catches for 50 yards over two years isn’t very promising.
On the defensive side of things, cornerback is a concern coming out of the spring. Presumed starters Lavert Hill, a sophomore, and David Long, a redshirt freshman, don’t seem like sure things for this fall, and redshirt sophomore Keith Washington might have pushed ahead of one or both after the spring. Freshman Ambry Thomas enrolled early but looks very skinny, and freshman Benjamin St-Juste looks promising but isn’t ready to start yet. Competition might not be the answer, but it won’t hurt.
Meanwhile, Michigan sent three cornerbacks to the NFL in the past few weeks, including draftees Jourdan Lewis and Jeremy Clark, as well as free agent signee Channing Stribling. Clark was listed at 6’4″ while he was at Michigan, though he checked in at 6’3″ at the NFL Combine. Jim Harbaugh also helped get 6’3″ Richard Sherman to the NFL by making him a cornerback at Stanford.
This helps Michigan get longer at corner, provides competition at a position of need, and doesn’t seem to have much of a negative impact on the wide receiver group. Michigan fans have grown accustomed to not counting on Harris to produce much at receiver, so things will remain status quo on that front. If a need does arise on offense, Harris could presumably make another switch to fortify the receiver spot. And if he can’t contribute on defense, either, he may be exploring graduate transfer options in 2018.
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Not looking for Harris to make any more of an impact at corner than Canteen did. This is basically the coaching staff waving the white flag and trying to put Harris at a position where he will be higher than 6th on the depth chart. Nothing to see here.
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Agree. You know the coaches don’t have high hopes when they make this type of move in May instead of January.
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Man, I guess the days of me existing Harris to break out are officially over
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Thought he was a huge recruiting cout when we stole him from MSU… Between him and Kevin Grady, GR kids have had a tough time transitioning to UM after illustrious high school careers.
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Picked Hoke over Dantonio, Izzo over Beilein, and WR over CB. Areas for improvement: decision-making.
I’m skeptical this move will pan out, but Michigan and Harris get to give it a season before deciding on a 5th year.
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I couldn’t find any tape of him at DB in high school. I wonder how his backpedal and hips are.
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Has there ever been anyone in recent memory making a position switch this late in the game successfully? I know Hill and Poggi transitioned well but i may be comparing apples to oranges…
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The first person who pops into mind is James Rogers. He played some corner early in his career, but then he switched to receiver. When he was a senior, he switched back to corner, started, and made 3 picks. He also ended up on the Buccaneers for a while. So I would say that position switch was pretty successful. Otherwise, there have been a few guys who switched late and got some playing time, but nothing particularly successful (Steve Brown from safety to OLB doesn’t really count, IMO).
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Any position switches? Richard Sherman had a career as a WR at Stanford his first 3 years, and then was a pretty good corner his last two.
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no doubt. sherman would be one of the models.
but there are way more misses than hits, both nationally and at m, and especially when its late in players career. obviously its easier and more likely to transition earlier in a guys career. but there are more keith heitzmans and the like than sherman and other success stories.
hopefully it works out for harris and hes able to earn reps and help his team but itll be tough to supplant the mix of talented youngsters (long, hill, st juste, thomas) and slightly more seasoned vets (washington, watson).
i like the move though since harris hasnt really produced at WR and a fairly large group of players either appear to be more physically gifted and / or more well rounded WRs.
no real downside. maybe harris has some natural ability to turn and mirror or maybe he knows how to stick his head in there and make few tackles, who knows. but it appears hell be competing against a smaller group of players for relatively larger potential role (since its unlikely hed have been any higher than #4-5 WR). work his butt off this summer, roll the dice and compete at DB this fall. sounds good for all parties involved
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Jeremy Clark? I think he switched after year 3, like Harris is doing. Hill is another fine example. Both were making more minor switches from ‘adjacent’ positions.
Keith Heitzman was on the same timeline and actually switched sides of the ball and became a backup contributor. That might be your best most recent comp.
Jay Riemersma became a TE (after being a QB for 3 years) with great success through to the NFL. That’s same side of the ball but obviously a big change.
Thunder also mentioned James Rogers but that was a panic situation that hopefully Michigan is not in again.
All of these situations have qualifiers but I think it’s safe to say that dramatic position switches this late in one’s career are unlikely to produce impact starters. Not impossible, just unlikely.
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