Is this the UT freshman we should be talking more about?
When Jeff Littleton pitched Roman Harrison as a prospect to college coaches, he'd hear a familiar response.
“Well, Coach, we've got a lot of kids who are 6-2 with talent, but if we can get a 6-5 guy, we can make him better,” coaches would tell Littleton, who coached Harrison at Bainbridge High School in Georgia.
Littleton thinks that's looking at the situation all wrong.
“There's plenty of 6-2 guys, but there's not plenty of Romans, and that's what they didn't understand,” he said.
Harrison's stature didn't deter Tennessee, which signed the four-star recruit in December. Georgia Tech and Michigan State were the only other Power 5 programs to offer Harrison a scholarship.
The 234-pound Harrison played nose tackle for Bainbridge because he was the biggest and strongest guy on the roster.
He's practicing at outside linebacker for Tennessee, but the same strength that helped him wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage in high school is allowing him to stand out to UT'S coaching staff.
Harrison recently made a shirtless visit to outside linebackers coach Chris Rumph's house. Rumph knew he had to shut that down quickly.
“I said, ‘Look here, big man, wrap it up.' I don't need my wife seeing that joker walking around the house with his shirt off,” Rumph joked. “Man, he's strong. He's strong."
Tennessee needs to pressure the quarterback more. Darrell Taylor returns as one starting outside linebacker after registering eight sacks last season. No other Tennessee returner at any position had more than two sacks.
Taylor projects as a future NFL talent. He's 6-4, 255 pounds. Jordan Allen is also 6-4. But Harrison's physical profile compares to most of Tennessee's outside linebackers. Fellow four-star freshman Quavaris Crouch is 6-1, 246 pounds.
Deandre Johnson is the leading candidate to start opposite Taylor when the Vols are aligned in a 3-4 scheme. Crouch is another option. He has split his time between outside linebacker and inside linebacker.
Allen and Kivon Bennett are returners who made limited impact last season.
That's all to say that Harrison finds a manageable path toward making the two-deep at the position.
“If you can't affect a quarterback, you can't win,” defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley said. “We're going to push Roman to see how much he can handle, and hopefully he can be that guy on the opposite of Darrell in some situation packages that can help us rush the quarterback.”