3-star cornerback Christian Harrison commits to Tennessee

The Tennessee Volunteers are making a big recruiting push ahead of Early Signing Day on December 15th. They gained another addition to their 2022 class when 3-star cornerback Christian Harrison announced his commitment to Tennessee on Monday.

Harrison is the second commit in the past seven days. Previously, 3-star defensive end Joshua Josephs announced his decision last Monday.

Harrison is ranked as the 1,057th overall player and 100th cornerback in the nation (247Sports Composite Rankings). That being said, the schools recruiting him would indicate that a group of Power-5 staffs think he has enough talent to succeed in college. His final three were Tennessee, Florida, and Nebraska. He also listed offers from Utah, Virginia Tech, and Maryland. If nothing else, the bloodlines might be working in his favor—Harrison’s father is former NFL All-Pro safety Rodney Harrison.

The tape is a mixed bag. He does have the prerequisite speed and quickness to be a cornerback. He’s got great straight line speed, and can break on the ball better than you might expect. The speed also helps when he is one-on-one with a receiver, and there are some plays where he gets beat, but is able to make up ground in a hurry.

However, I’m skeptical of how well his profile translates to the SEC. Harrison is listed at 6-foot and 183 pounds, but he just seems smaller than that on tape. Which is not a deal breaker for cornerbacks, but it also raises questions about his ability to come up and hit. If he is smaller than listed, he should try to be super refined in coverage. But that doesn’t really pop out when you watch his highlights. His speed actually bails him out on more than a few occasions.

I’m actually of the opinion that Harrison‘s future is on offense. I think there is some serious potential as a slot receiver. He’s got some clips of him in his highlight tape, and his speed translates very well to that side of the field. He also seems to show good ball skills, especially on deep passes. In all likelihood, he will try out cornerback first. But if that doesn’t work out, the staff should seriously consider trying him out on offense.

Count Harrison as one of those potential diamonds in the rough. If he works out, awesome. If he doesn’t, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.