Thomas Harper Brings Versatility, Big Play Skills To The Notre Dame Defense
If Thomas Harper plays football like he reads, Notre Dame’s defense will be in great shape next fall. Thomas already has 34 games of experience in the bank from his four seasons as a defensive back at Oklahoma State. He made his first official Notre Dame public appearance when he spent a few minutes joking with and answering questions, giving Irish fans a first glance at the impact transfer.
"It’s been great,” Harper said of his transition from Stillwater, Okla. to South Bend. "They give you a lot of help as far as people, players to show you around if you need anything. It has been pretty easy.”
Harper saw plenty of action early in his Oklahoma State career, playing 12 games as a true freshman. He split the snaps fairly evenly between defense and special teams and then became a mainstay in the Cowboy secondary by his sophomore year when he played in all 11 games with a career-high 434 snaps.
The Knoxville, Tenn. native played in 11 of 13 games as a junior (one of the two games he missed was the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame due to injury) then he only played in seven games this past season due to a torn right labrum.
Harper suffered the injury midway through the season. He tried to play through it, but ultimately shut his season down with surgery in November. Harper has shown the tenacity to deliver big hits playing both free safety and nickel at OSU, but at 5-11 and 180 pounds, sometimes those hits have been too big for his own good.
"One of my goals this spring is I’m trying to gain 10 pounds or so,” Harper noted. "Put on some more muscle mass because that is kind of how I like to play. I like to hit and be physical.”
Harper’s play as a defensive back was fairly raw coming out of high school, where he mostly played wide receiver. He started his college career as a cornerback and turned that into hybrid play between nickel and safety as his Oklahoma State career progressed. Notre Dame has opportunities at both spots after the departures of TaRiq Bracy and Brandon Joseph.
"My footwork and coverage ability is good enough to play nickel,” Harper said of his versatility. "I came in as a corner out of high school, having that background and the way I play, I play more like a free safety. I like to look at the quarterback, go make plays on the ball. Coming in as a corner helped me and allowed me to play both.
"At safety my ball skills and big play ability,” Harper continued. "In high school I played receiver and didn’t even play defense like that. Just having the versatile background I have, I think those things allowed me to excel at both.”
Harper did his homework on Notre Dame before making his decision to use his grad transfer to play for the Irish in his final season of eligibility. He had a 24-hour visit to Notre Dame and spent a lot of the time “talking ball” with the Irish coaching staff rather than sightseeing more around campus. He also crunched some film on Notre Dame’s previous slot defender.
"I looked at old film of TaRiq (Bracy) and those guys that played nickel and free safety,” Harper explained. “(I) just felt like it allowed me to show off my ability and put me in the right positions I want to be in and positions I feel like are my strengths to make plays and help the team.”
Bracy’s blitz for a sack in Notre Dame’s Nov. 5 win over Clemson stood out to Harper. It’s something he didn’t have the chance to do much as a Cowboy, but he saw himself being able to do that, either from the nickel or safety, in Al Golden’s defense.
Like Notre Dame’s players last year, Harper will now be playing for his third defensive coordinator in as many years. He played for Jim Knowles at Oklahoma State early in his career before Knowles left for Ohio State. He then played for Derek Mason last season and now he will play for Golden in his first and only season at Notre Dame.
"Every defense, there is only so much you can do,” said Harper. "Everyone has what they add to it, but as far as base, they are all similar just with different names and terms.”
The defensive back chose Notre Dame as his final college destination, in part, due to the national schedule the Fighting Irish face. The repetitiveness of life in a conference will be replaced by a game in Ireland as well as games against teams from the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC.
"That was a big thing going into the portal,” Harper explained. “I wanted to show my abilities against different competition given I have been in the Big 12 for four years. I wanted to show some abilities against different competition.”
Outside of football, Harper’s top hobby is reading.
“Do you read,” he joked when asked a reporter who asked him about his own reading habits.
Harper delves into fiction from time to time, but says he mostly likes self-help books. His brother, Devin Harper, also played at Oklahoma State and was a rookie linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys this season.
Big brother has given little brother tips for playing his position that he has picked up in the NFL, but he also turned Thomas on to a book called “The Servant” by James C. Hunter.
"That opened my eyes to leadership and something I never heard before,” Harper explained. "It was talking about every great leader serves somebody. It’s a difference between being a power figure bossing people around versus having authority with someone and being someone they look up to actually leading them.”
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