Volunteer Country

Signee Breakdown: DB Christian Harrison

The early signing period is officially in the books, and Josh Heupel's program signed 20 players on December 15th. In this series, the Volunteer Country on

CJ Eldridge

The early signing period is officially in the books, and Josh Heupel's program signed 20 players on December 15th. In this series, the Volunteer Country on Sports Illustrated staff share their full breakdown of each player, complete with bio, former Tennessee player and/or current NFL player comparisons, and what the Tennessee coaches had to say about each respective signee. Please keep in mind the NFL player comparisons are just a fun look at the potential upsides of each player and are not meant to set unlofty expectations or indicate a career trajectory.Β 

BIO

Christian Harrison

Cornerback

6’0 183

Woodward Academy (GA)

What the Coaches Said

Tim Banks:"We're excited about him. Obviously tremendous bloodline, but just a great kid. When you see his film, you just see the way he competes. It just jumps off the screen, right? Then you get a chance to be around him and talk football; he gets that part of it. I think his best football is ahead of him. He has tremendous size for the position. He's strong, runs well. We're excited to have him here on Rocky Top."

Willie Martinez:

Volunteer Country’s Take

The most obvious initial takeaway from this pickup by Tennessee is genetics, as Christian is the son of legendary NFL defensive back Rodney Harrison. This pickup, like many other legacy pickups, was good from a perception standpoint because of the publicity of being mentioned on Sunday Night Football and other major sports shows. However, this isn’t at all the only reason Willie Martinez and the defensive coaching staff pursued Christian. He was originally committed to Liberty, but saw his offer list explode after a fantastic senior season. After decommitting and nearly 20 new offers later, he picked Tennessee over Florida and Nebraska. On tape, you see the ideal size for an outside corner at 6’0 183 with room to add weight. He excels in man coverage and has a very high football IQ. You see a player that gets a lot of turnovers a lot of different ways, whether it’s INTs or simply stripping the ball. Good open space tackler and showed off his athleticism by even playing some receiver. He’s just scratching the surface of the player he can be.

NFL Player Comparison: Greg Newsome

A lot of people are naturally going to say Christian plays like his dad, but Rodney was a safety for his entire NFL career. Newsome had a solid rookie season with the Browns and spent most of his college career being overshadowed from a national standpoint, but both Newsome and Harrison are very similar in size and skill set. Both are excellent man coverage corners that do a great job at forcing turnovers. One of the few differences is that Newsome plays very often as a slot corner, whereas Harrison is more of an outside man and will be for Tennessee. However, I think he’s fully capable of playing both positions.

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