Sting Factor: Daniel Harris backs off pledge to Georgia
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from one to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
*****
MORE STING FACTOR: Mark Fletcher backs off pledge to Ohio State | Kenny Minchey decommitments from Pitt
CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals100
TRANSFER PORTAL: Stories/coverage | Message board
*****
THE STORYLINE
Four-star cornerback Daniel Harris has known Georgia assistant coach Fran Brown from his time at Rutgers and when Brown joined the Bulldogs they became a major player for Harris’ commitment.
The Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep standout committed to Georgia on July 1, but despite the Dawgs’ huge success again this season Harris backed off his pledge and reopened his recruitment in recent days.
Prior to his Georgia commitment, the long and rangy defensive back, who can also hit, had Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan high on his list. His older brother, Donell, played at Texas A&M before retiring because of medical issues.
Now back on the market, it looks like those Big Ten programs are squarely back in the picture, and others could emerge as well. There is also a feeling by some that maybe Georgia isn’t completely out of the picture, either.
*****
LOCAL REACTION
It’s never good to lose a talented player like Harris. His decommitment leaves Georgia with four defensive backs committed in the class - AJ Harris, Justyn Rhett, Joenel Aguero and Chris Peal. But given the insane defensive back haul Georgia signed in the 2022 class this decommitment doesn’t hurt too much. I believe the Bulldogs would be fine with the four they have, plus there’s still a possibility Harris ends up back in the class anyway. - Jed May, UGASports.com
Sting Factor: 4
*****
NATIONAL REACTION
This is not a knock on Harris at all because he’s a very talented player and if he goes to the Big Ten then it would affect Georgia even less, but the Bulldogs are so insanely loaded at cornerback for the next few years that Harris’ departure shouldn’t matter much at all. The four-star is very good and he will be a welcome addition at a very solid program but the Bulldogs are recruiting at such an elite level that one of South Florida’s best players can decommit and it hardly causes a ripple. - Adam Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director
Sting Factor: 2