Hard to believe we're on the last leg of Harbor's time here at USC. His progress has been...slow...and steady. From 12 catches to 26 to 30 and increasing his yardage from 195 to 618. The whole process was interesting. Taking a DE from high school and making him a WR so that he could try to make the Olympics as a sprinter, more or less allowing his entire first year+ to be a wash developmentally as he pursued the Olympic dream.
As odd of a transition as it was, the promise was there all along. Some of what was missing early on was the commitment as he was trying to pull double duty with track. He flashed some nice catches in tight windows. I think we might have some different results if he had been brought in to be 100% football from the outset. But the catch 22 was that the way only we got him here was by allowing him to pursue the track dream. So, I don't really fault for our coaches for that. If we had a drawn a hard line on being 100% football, he simply would have gone elsewhere.
Because of all that, even though he's now a senior, I still find myself thinking of him as more of a sophomore/junior developmentally. But, here we are, with him entering his final season of play. He'll be a centerpiece of the offense (or at least attempted centerpiece). He's already a certified deep ball threat. Though he doesn't have a quick first step, he has the physical tools to be a lethal weapon at WR.
For his sake, and ours, I hope this is a great year for him. I don't fault him for wanting to pursue the Olympics...that's every athlete's dream.
As odd of a transition as it was, the promise was there all along. Some of what was missing early on was the commitment as he was trying to pull double duty with track. He flashed some nice catches in tight windows. I think we might have some different results if he had been brought in to be 100% football from the outset. But the catch 22 was that the way only we got him here was by allowing him to pursue the track dream. So, I don't really fault for our coaches for that. If we had a drawn a hard line on being 100% football, he simply would have gone elsewhere.
Because of all that, even though he's now a senior, I still find myself thinking of him as more of a sophomore/junior developmentally. But, here we are, with him entering his final season of play. He'll be a centerpiece of the offense (or at least attempted centerpiece). He's already a certified deep ball threat. Though he doesn't have a quick first step, he has the physical tools to be a lethal weapon at WR.
For his sake, and ours, I hope this is a great year for him. I don't fault him for wanting to pursue the Olympics...that's every athlete's dream.
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