Justin Harris
6'0" 190lbs CB
RS Senior
Transfer from Cincinnati
Justin Harris, a senior transfer from the first-year P-5 program Cincinnati, brings experience as a starting cornerback. However, by the end of 2023, his on-field performance declined, relegating him to special teams. He struggled with giving up deep passes and defensive pass interference calls.
Upon closer examination of the numbers, on paper, Justin had a better year than most of our cornerbacks, except for arguably Kaleb Ford-Dement (KFD). To compare, I wanted to assess Justin's performance in pass coverage and his tackling abilities. To measure his coverage skills, I referred to Pro Football Focus's stat called NFL, an advanced stat that "measures a quarterback's NFL passer rating generated from a player's coverage numbers when targeted." Justin's NFL was 94.5, ranking second to KFD's impressive 71.5. In comparison, Joshua Eaton, the other starting corner, had an NFL of 100, and Chris Mills had a pedestrian 107.5.
As a tackler, Justin should stand out as one of our best, as he averaged 5.2 tackles per game*, compared to 3.5 for both KFD and Chris Mills, and 3.0 for Josh Eaton. By the way, AJ Edwards averaged an impressive 6.3 tackles per game.
I included stats for Ethan Johnson from App St and Reddy Steward from Troy, a pair of all-conference players for sake of comparison. Despite KFD's injured shoulder, there is a belief that he could have put up numbers worthy of a 1st Team All-Conference selection.
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In my opinion, Justin Harris should, at the very least, provide quality depth at the CB position. What I’m certain of is that the overall performance of the cornerback group needs improvement.
4.35 Stars
* For a fair comparison, a game is considered 75 snaps.
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