Kathleen's Harrison is Memphis Bound

Wed. January 25, 2012 at 11:07 p.m. | By Solange Reyner

By SOLANGE REYNER
THE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Before his junior season, Kathleen tight end Kerwin Harrison spoke with position coach LeDarius Haggins about hard work and what those words meant. 

"He always told me that hard work beats talent so we just got in there and worked hard every day and we continued to work hard," Harrison said.

"And now I'm going to college because of it." 

And he's going on a full ride. 

On Wednesday night, Harrison committed to play football for the University of Memphis. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior had offers from 10 Division I programs including Rutgers, the University of South Florida, Cincinnatti, Mississippi State, Louisville and Texas Tech. 

Of the three visits he took to schools, he felt most comfortable at Memphis. He visited the university this past weekend and said the coaching staff and the players there all seemed to have a great connection. 

Harrison will be part of a rebuilding effort at Memphis. The Tigers, who play in Conference USA, are coming off a 2-10 season that ended with the firing of head coach Larry Porter. Justin Fuente, who was TCU's co-offensive coordinator for five seasons, was hired in early December. 

Fuente's coaching staff came after Harrison late in the process, but showed a lot of interest. Earlier this week, they were in Lakeland on an in-home visit with Harrison's family. 

With his mom's OK, Harrison told them he was headed up north

"She said do whatever makes me happy," Harrison said. "She was happy that I had made it this far."

As a freshman, Harrison never envisioned football in his future and wasn't interested in playing the sport until teammate Terry Bentley pestered him to try out for the team.  

He went out for practice after his freshman year, stayed one week, then quit. Then he came back last summer and made an impact quickly. 

"He caught on fast,"  Kathleen coach Irving Strickland said. "Just the way he caught on to blocking, running routes. Some stuff you just can't coach. He just kept getting better and better." 

It took hard work, though. But Harrison didn't mind it. 

"It’s good. Hard work pays off," he said.