Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst
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THE STORYLINE
It was a busy summer for Donell Harris, who not only reclassified from the 2021 class to 2020 but also backed off his pledge to Miami.
The Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep prospect was under five-star consideration in the 2021 grouping, but now in the 2020 class he was placed at No. 49 nationally and fourth at weak-side defensive end behind Sav’ell Smalls, Reggie Grimes and Desmond Evans, who are all uncommitted as well.
As Harris has reclassified to the 2020 class, Florida and Texas A&M have emerged as the front-runners for him, but others could get more seriously involved since he’s such an intriguing prospect. In June, he released a top five of Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and A&M, but the Gators have come on as of late.
One of the most interesting aspects of Harris’ game is that he is an athletic freak show but he only weighs 205 pounds and so playing defensive end at the highest levels of college football would be difficult early on. Moving to outside linebacker seems to make a lot more sense until he can get more physically developed.
Is Harris destined to play somewhere in the SEC? And after reclassification can the four-star contribute immediately or will a redshirt year be more probable?
FIRST TAKE: ROB CASSIDY, FLORIDA ANALYST
“There are only two options for Harris. It’s either A&M or Florida. He’s visited both semi-recently and while I’m not ready to choose between the two, I feel confident he’ll play for one or the other. Georgia is the only other plausible destination.
“He’s not going to have the size to play right away in the SEC unless something insane happens, which is possible in a college strength program. I think he’d be well suited to redshirt and add muscle.”
SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, NATIONAL RECRUITING DIRECTOR
“I think he will have to redshirt. I know Jimbo Fisher has really good connections in the state of Florida from his days at Florida State. Florida is doing a good job recruiting all over the place. He’s an in-state kid, so that might give the Gators some slight edge but most people think Texas A&M has got the lead here.
“He’s so thin that he definitely needs a redshirt year to bulk up. Even if he played outside linebacker, he needs to get a lot stronger. We saw him at the Five-Star Challenge get pushed around quite a bit. His ceiling is high, but when you get hands on him you can move him around too easily.”
