Brandon Harris Scouting Report

As a freshman at Miami, Brandon Harris was thrown into the fire. He was often beat for big plays, but Harris showed his attitude and stuck with it game after game. While that would crush the confidence of many players, for Harris it was a learning experience. He has gotten better and it did not take long. Just a year later he led the ACC in passes defended per contest and tied for second nationally with 15 pass break-ups. His junior campaign in 2010 has been equally successful.

Harris has the right attitude, but he has the skills to play at the next level too. He has a quick first step and amazing overall speed. Very few players at any level will blow by him. For a player who relies on speed, Harris is surprisingly tough and the opposition cannot pick on him anymore or Harris will make them pay.

Miami got torched by Ohio State and Florida State early in the 2010 season and Harris has some work to do before he will be considered a consensus first round pick. He definitely has the skills to be considered a first round pick by the end of his junior season, but he needs to have good games against good teams like Virginia Tech later in the year.

1/15 Update: Brandon Harris said there would be an 85 percent chance that he returned to school. However, after hearing back from the NFL Collegiate Advisory Committee, Harris opted to skip his senior season. Harris did not put up great numbers as a junior, but he did breakup a team high ten passes. By the end of the season most opposing quarterbacks were avoiding Harris' side of the field and that hurt his numbers. But those numbers will not matter to the NFL. Harris should be a late first round selection and it is hard to see him dropping further than the early part of round two (even if his pre-draft workouts do not go as expected).

3/22 Update: Track guy playing football? Harris put the last doubters to rest about that stigma at the NFL combine. He may be fast, but Harris is also a great football player. His movement and instincts shown at the NFL combine were superb. It would be no surprise now if Harris ended up being the third cornerback off the board behind just Patrick Patterson and Prince Amukamara.