Canes running back Harris declares for 2022 NFL Draft
About an hour before the Hurricanes introduced Mario Cristobal as their new coach Tuesday, Miami lost a potential starter to the NFL.
Cam’Ron Harris, who started 19 games across the past three seasons, declared for the 2022
NFL Draft after an injuryshortened junior season in 2021. The running back started the first six games of the season and ran for 409 yards and five touchdowns on 71 carries, and caught 11 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown before sustaining a season-ending knee injury in October.
“I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to play for my dream school. I want to thank Coach [Mark] Richt, Thomas Brown, Coach
[Manny] Diaz, [running backs coach Eric Hickson], and all of my teammates for believing in me,” Harris wrote in a post shared on Twitter. “It’s been a challenging journey for me not finishing the season because God had other plans. I have decided to declare for the 2022 NFL Draft. Thank you Miami.”
Harris is the third Hurricane to announce his plans to enter the NFL Draft with eligibility remaining. Wide receiver
Charleston Rambo also declared for the Draft on Friday, and safety Bubba
Bolden previously said he would leave for the NFL.
Harris, who was a four-star prospect out of Miami Gardens Carol
City in the vaunted Class of 2018, has been a contributor since his freshman year in 2018, when he ran for 166 yards in a reserve role. In 2019, he took over as the starter for three games when DeeJay Dallas was injured and he took over as the full-time starter in 2020, running for 643 yards and 10 touchdowns on 126 carries and starting all but one game.
With an extra season of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tailback began his second junior season as the starter, too, and shouldered a big load early while fellow running back Jaylan Knighton was suspended. He started slowly before getting into a rhythm in the middle of the season, only to have his season cut short by an injury against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Knighton served as the starting running back for the rest of the season with Harris and fellow running back Donald Chaney Jr. both out with seasonending injuries.
Harris would have had a chance to be the starter again if he returned for the 2022 season, but the competition got more complicated because of the continuing ascents of Chaney and Knighton,
who were both four-star recruits in the Class of 2020. Chaney, who began the year as Harris’ backup before a September knee injury, ran for 44 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Knighton finished the regular season with 145 carries for 561 yards and eight touchdowns, plus 20 catches for 280 yards and three touchdowns while starting the final six games.
— DAVID WILSON
ELSEWHERE
Oregon Ducks: Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux made it official on Monday night and announced that he would not return to the Ducks for his senior year.
Thibodeaux is expected to be one of the top picks in the upcoming NFL
draft, and the move to go pro was widely anticipated. He announced his decision on Twitter and Instagram, thanking Oregon for giving him “the opportunity to transition into a man ready to take on the world.”
“After much thought, consideration and a lifetime of preparation, I have decided to forgo my senior season of football and enter the NFL draft, further pursuing my dreams,” he wrote.
Thibodeaux will not play for the No. 15 Ducks in the Alamo Bowl against No. 14 Oklahoma on Dec. 29.
Oregon coach Mario Cristobal left the Ducks earlier Monday to become head coach at Miami. The Ducks on Monday night named assistant
Bryan McClendon, pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach, interim coach for the bowl game.
A 6-5, 258-pound edge rusher out of Southern California, Thibodeaux proclaimed at the start of the season that his goal was to win the Heisman, a tall order for a defensive player.
But he sprained his ankle in Oregon’s opener and had to miss the next two games. He also was ejected from the Ducks’ overtime loss at Stanford, and had to miss the first half of the next game against Cal.
He finished the season with 49 tackles, including 12 for loss, and seven sacks. He is a finalist for the Bednarik Award and Bronco Nagurski Trophy.