Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Football Adds FCS FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN Leroy Harris III to Bolster DE via Transfer Portal

Starting point is 00:00:00 Leroy Harris is a Jayhawk on today's episode of Locked on Jayhawking. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it to your first team every day. Derek Johnson here. This is locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you. Every day is catching each and every episode of the show. That was a tough line to walk trying to do the Leroy Jenkins bit while still trying not to wake up a baby right now. Anyway, this is

Starting point is 00:00:38 a little bonus episode locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for tuning in every day is catching each and every show. And if you're catching our bonus episodes, I guess a double every day or but on today's episode kids football made an addition via the spring transfer portal with an FCS freshman All-American and Leroy Harris, the third who is a defensive end from Tennessee Chattanooga. So we'll get into that. On this bonus episode of the show what he brings to the table his scouting report, how he fits in how it's a i guess a direct reaction you would think to the by job news

Starting point is 00:01:09 and what it currently looks like for the k.u defensive end room at this point in time let's start right there with Leroy Harris the third this is the first spring transfer portal edition for k.u football for the 2025 offseason Leroy Harris, the third is a six foot five 240 pound defensive end from the FCS level out of University of Tennessee Chattanooga. He chose Kansas over some offers from like Bowling Green Appalachian State Coast of Carolina and Florida Atlantic and Phil Steele named Harris a FCS all freshman team

Starting point is 00:01:48 performer from this past season. So that obviously shows that he's got, you know, good potential and was able to provide some real impact right away in year one. He's going to be a true sophomore in the fall of 2025, which will be his first year obviously with Kansas. That means he has three more seasons to play, but he hasn't taken a red shirt so theoretically if he does end up being a second or third string you could try to limit him to only playing four games this year and obviously if you make a bowl game you can play in the bowl game as well to where you could preserve red shirt and then you'd have three more years after this one hypothetically again if he's good enough you don't worry

Starting point is 00:02:21 about that and today's day and age where, you know, players transfer so quickly. I don't think you need to worry about that as much. But either way, you're in a good position here with a lot of years left on a kid who already produced at a pretty good level in year one at the FCS level with. Yeah, which, yes, it is a jump, but we've seen plenty of players make, you know, an FCS jump, make a division two jump. Right. We saw here locally with Kansas and Dominic Pune. So either way, this was a quick reaction, I think, by Lance Lightbulb and company

Starting point is 00:02:51 after they lost by job. And so if you remember, which is at the bonus episode, thank you if you already caught it about by job, leaving the program and transferring out from KU and what you lost in by job. I mean, he might've been second string. It might've been a third string, a defensive end, right? He probably lost some rotational snaps there, but probably wasn't as big of a loss this year as it could be in the future by joke somebody with with high potential down the

Starting point is 00:03:13 road. Well, with Leroy Harris, the third, he might be a rotational guy kind of similar to how by Joe would be. But the idea here, I think is is that Harris can give you something down the road, whether that's a year from now, two years from now, that he can be a possible, you know, I mean, six foot five, he's got the frame for it. And this staff has done a really good job bringing in transfer portal, defensive ends,

Starting point is 00:03:37 and whether it's more about them finding diamonds in the rough or about developing them or a little bit of both, they've been able to do just that. And so I think that gives you all the hope in the rough or about developing them or a little bit of both. They've been able to do just that. And so I think that gives you all the hope in the world about a kid who did show some of that flash in year one that he's going to be able to replicate and replace what you lost in terms of some of that potential with By Job on the other side.

Starting point is 00:03:57 But he also does add to the group, I think this year and probably we'll be getting some rotational snaps. But again, all that kind of depends on how he adjusts and how he plays with the team during summer and fall camp. All right, let's get to a scouting report. What exactly does he bring to the table as well? So what does that defensive end group look like for KU on this episode of Locked on Jay Hawks?

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Starting point is 00:05:38 Thanks for joining us on Lockdown Jayhawk. So what does the scouting report for Harris? He came out of high school as an 84 graded three star. He was a linebacker prospect out of Nashville, Tennessee, where he went to Christ Presbyterian Academy. And his max profile has some of his stats from high school senior played both ends. He was a tight end in addition to playing on the defensive side of the ball. And he had 270 yards on offense. He also had three interceptions on defense, six over his last two years there, 47 tackles, seven for loss and a sack in that final season.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Then he had an offer to Memphis. He also had offers to Navy, Air Force, some other FCS schools, some Ivy League schools, which is obviously part of the FCS. He also had a preferred walk-on offer from Ole Miss out of high school, but he chose to go the FCS route, chose to go to UT Chattanooga.

Starting point is 00:06:24 I think, you know, I'd imagine for a lot of kids, it's like, if you have the choice between going to an FCS school or preferred walk on at this point at a power five university, a lot of them are going to bet on themselves and go to the FCS school and then be like, okay, I'm going to try to ball out in one or two years and then enter the portal and maybe I'll wind up at that school on scholarship, right. And so he ends up at a power school in Kansas in the interior, he played at a six foot five 230 pounds, the freshmen is what he was listed as there. Now he's listed at 652 40. So he's already gained some positive weight. That's a good sign there. And in that first and lone season with Chattanooga, he played all 12 games for the team, they went seven and five in the FCS, a solid team there. He had 11 tackles, half a tackle for loss, one pass deflection, three fumble recoveries,

Starting point is 00:07:06 one that he ended up scooping and scoring for a long touchdown. But overall, 302 snaps of play for him as a freshman. And he had a cumulative pro football focus grade of about 59. Again, 60 is about kind of average there. So you figure, okay, well, you're a freshman getting thrown into the fire, like playing on the line of scrimmage as a freshman, true

Starting point is 00:07:30 freshman is going to be difficult on either line of scrimmage. So when you grade it on a curve, you know, being really close to just kind of average there is actually pretty impressive for a young player, because it tells you that, okay, once you start to, you know, figure out all the playbooks and the mental side of things of the I don't know all the little nooks and crannies of playing college football and the your your body fully catches up with with everything and you get it to a point where I don't know maybe he winds up being 65 250 or 255 or something at Kansas, right, and and

Starting point is 00:08:04 you have more training and more practice under your belt, those sort of things. It tells you that if your floor was as a freshman, theoretically, where you're getting better every year, that he could be a pretty darn good player, he had a 60.1 grade and run defense, 69 and a half and tackling 60.6 and pass rush. He had 12 pressures that came from 11 hurries and one quarterback hit. And by the way, those 12 pressures that came on 161 pass rush snaps, which basically

Starting point is 00:08:30 would be like if you're reviewing that as like a pressure rate of how often he's getting the pressure on one of his pass rush snaps, it was about seven and a half percent which like comparison Dean Miller led Kansas last year to nine and a half percent pressure rate. This among KU players with at least 50 pass rush snaps. Robinson Jeremy at a 9.2% Dylan Woodke was at nine. And then you have a drop off to DJ Warner who was at 5.1% So he's kind of between where those two numbers were, again, doing it as a

Starting point is 00:08:58 freshman. Now, he did play against an FPS team last season. And it wasn't just that the FPS team, it was a college football playoff team in Tennessee. And it wasn't just that any FBS team, it was a college football playoff team in Tennessee. And in that game, he had two tackles, he had a 63 PFF grade. So, you know, what was solid enough in that game, which is even more impressive considering that it wasn't just that they were playing up in competition,

Starting point is 00:09:16 that was his first collegiate game. That was their first game of the season. And he was pretty consistent overall. Like you normally don't see that as much from young players, the consistency. He had one bad, you know, game of a 43 PFF grade against Citadel. He had a high of a 69.2 against Furman

Starting point is 00:09:33 when he had four tackles. Nine of his other 10 games had PFF grades between 55 and 64. So he was pretty consistently between that notion, which I think that's part of what gets you on the field as a young player. Can you be consistent? He also has good family lineage. His dad played at NC State, then he played in the

Starting point is 00:09:52 NFL for seven years between the Titans and the Lions. He was an offensive lineman. What does that tell you? I mean, it, it kind of tells you that he's got obviously like good genes, he's got NFL genes, but that tells me that there's more room for growth and development, which I think you kind of tells you that he's got obviously like good genes. He's got NFL genes. But that tells me that there is more room for growth and development, which I think you kind of like to see. All right. What is the current defensive end room look like now for KU? Today's episode of Lockdown Jayhawks is brought to you by PrizePix. And Tuesday is the perfect day for

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Starting point is 00:11:02 PrizePix, run your game with PrizePix. Thanks for joining us on this bonus episode of Locked on Jay Hawks. And don't forget to check out a regular daily episodes here on Locked on Jay Hawks. Our episode coming out tomorrow is gonna be talking about KU basketball and I guess KU athletics as a whole and college sports as a whole and the money game side of things there, as well as a little latest in the transfer portals. KU football, nabbing a defensive end they lost by Joe earlier

Starting point is 00:11:30 this week. Now you go out and get Leroy Harris III and that gives him eight scholarship. I guess everybody's scholarship now right? Or will be you when it whenever it officially gets like signed off and stuff. But eight defensive ends basically on the roster. Seems like Kansas could be in the gunning or running I guess for one more and I think Cam Williams, we've talked about a couple times throughout our shows here from Georgia State, he is going to be visiting this

Starting point is 00:11:56 week too. So that's an opportunity to try to add yet another defensive end. So when you're looking at the the probable starters, I think you look at Justice Finkeley, the transfer from Texas, starting at the strong side, you look at Dean Miller starting as the weak side which he did this past season from there it's kind of a wide open competition and I think that's where it comes into play could they go out and get another defensive end to maybe nail down one of those top backup spots similar to how this past season you know you felt like you had a pretty stern top three in the rotation, right? With Wood Key rotating in for Jerry Robinson. And then

Starting point is 00:12:27 you have some young players who are all very talented. But how are they going to figure in? Are they going to be ready right away? Like with Dacius Brinkley, former four star crew, red cheer freshman, I think he's going to be a really good player. This is going to be this year, is it going to be next year? Right? Same with Caleb Red, red cheer freshman. Adrian Hawley and Gary Martin coming in as true freshmen. Now Leroy Harris, the third, comes into that fold as a true sophomore. Then kind of the wild card in all this is Dylan Brooks,

Starting point is 00:12:53 who is a redshirt junior coming off that season ending injury. And that kind of throws a wrench in things because, you know, it usually takes a guy's time coming off season ending injuries, right? But if you're talking about priorities now of what to add in the portal, I do think offensive line becomes priority one and honestly, it might become priority to like maybe need that to offensive lineman. Maybe it's even most after that important to bring on like another corner for depth there. But yeah, you

Starting point is 00:13:18 could use another defensive end. I also think you're always in a situation where if any good player at any position wants to join, you make that happen and you make it work. But overall, I'm feeling pretty good about the defensive end group because I like Finkeley and Miller as starters. I like the potential of, okay, can one of these young players between Brinkley, Red, Hawley, and Martin, can one of them give you contributing snaps this year? Can Harris give you at least rotational snaps?

Starting point is 00:13:42 And then whatever you get from I think Dylan Brooks or any of the other young players would be kind of the cherry on top this year for KU. And again, if you do add another defensive end, then that bolsters it a little bit more. But I'm liking the way this group is looking at this point, especially knowing there could be another addition if you are KU. All right, that'll do it for this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You can find our show anywhere you get your podcasts, including on our YouTube page. Be back at you for a full edition

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Football Adds FCS FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN Leroy Harris III to Bolster DE via Transfer Portal

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