Florida Gators discuss moving forward without Marcell Harris

It’s been two weeks since Florida Gators redshirt senior safety Marcell Harris suffered a season ending tear to his right Achilles tendon, and his teammates and coaches are still looking for a way to move on.

Going down with a season ending injury before the season even starts is a shock for anyone, especially when it could be their very last. Aside from Harris, no one was more heartbroken by the news than senior cornerback Duke Dawson. He and Harris are cousins and have been inseparable since they were kids. Now, he must play his final season without one of his closest friends lining up with him every Saturday.

Harris didn’t even know how to talk to Dawson after it happened, because he knew it would devastate him.

“He didn’t really wanna tell me because he knows it’ll get to me,” said Dawson. “So I had to come out to him and just break it down to him about how I felt and knowing that I need him, knowing that he needs me, so I mean having each other in each other’s corner is very important.”

While it took some time for Dawson to accept that Harris won’t be on the field this fall, it meant a lot for him to know that he’d still be there for him and the rest of the team.

“Man, I couldn’t even take it all in,” Dawson said of his reaction to the injury. “I thought it was a dream at first. Knowing that Marcell is my cousin, knowing I can’t really play with him my last year, it really hurt me. It took me like three or four days to get it out of my mind, but after me and him had a little talk I know he’s gonna be there to support us and to make sure everyone is on track. It’s a huge loss for us, but we have other guys that are ready to step in there, take that role on.”

Fellow redshirt senior safety Nick Washington had a similar reaction. It was a difficult situation for all of Harris’ teammates, especially the ones who have been there with him since the beginning.

“Words can’t explain, Marcell and I both came in together and we always talked about finishing out our year here together, and to see him go down was tough,” said Washington. “It was really tough, but we brought in a lot of good guys and we’re gonna have to have someone step up. We have the guys to do it.”

Replacing Harris is going to be a difficult task for the Gators in more ways than one. As young as this secondary is, his veteran presence was a huge asset as a leader and a great talent on the field. According to Dawson and Washington, the pieces for someone to step up are still there, but so much is still unproven.

It was a given from the moment the 2016 season ended that several underclassmen defensive backs, likely freshmen, would have to emerge this year for Florida to be successful. The Gators bring in six freshmen who will compete to do that this season, and the loss of Harris opens up yet another opportunity for the young guys.

“It’s tough to replace a player like that,” Washington said. “Marcell’s a great player. Like I said, we brought in a lot of younger guys and I feel like they all have the talent to come in and make an impact, to kind of fill that void that we’re now missing. And so, we’re just gonna have to bring them along. It’s gonna be a great competition and I feel like competition brings the best out in everyone.”

With so much to learn in so little time, it’s time to grow up, and grow up fast, for these freshmen. So far, things are looking to be ahead of schedule, but how they progress in fall camp will be the big teller of their readiness.

“I mean, the season’s a month away,” said Washington. “Really, a month from today, we’re playing Michigan. When they’re coming in, they’re all wanting to learn and pay attention and take constructive criticism, so they’ve been growing up really fast and they’re gonna have to continue to grow up.”

Someone who knows a little bit about being thrown into the fire early is sophomore defensive back Chauncey Gardner. He played in all 13 games last season and found himself starting the final three games of the season due to numerous injuries. He made his fair share of freshman mistakes, but really came on in several key situations and even ended up earning Outback Bowl MVP honors. Many of these freshmen will be tested just as Gardner was last season.

“It’s just a regular process,” Gardner said. “I was once young, and you don’t want to rush anything, because you don’t wanna throw them out there too early, but if you have to, it’s more of a just go out there and know your reads, know what you have to do, know what position you have to be in to make plays.”

The loss of Harris also throws a wrench into things for Gardner, who was expected to take over the cornerback position across from Dawson this season after practicing there the entire spring. When the news of Harris’ injury broke, the general assumption was that Gardner would move back to safety where he got some experience last season and Joseph Putu, C.J. McWilliams or one of the freshmen would take over the second starting cornerback job.

According to head coach Jim McElwain, that may not be the case.

“He’s still going to start at corner,” said McElwain. “I thought he did a great job. That kind of was his natural position, and yet what he did obviously moving from nickel and playing nickel and then going to safety was obviously highlighted in the bowl game. As of right now, we’ve got to see kind of where that competition is. I know this: We feel comfortable with Chauncey being able to move nickel, safety, corner, but we still want him early in camp to really focus on the corner because he didn’t get a bunch of it last year.”

Wherever the coaches decide to play Gardner, he will be ready to take on the challenge, even if it’s on the other side of the ball.

“I’m just doing what helps my team,” he said. “Whatever I have to do. If they throw me out there at safety, if they throw me out there at nickel, if they throw me out there at receiver, I’m just trying to help my team. I just want to compete and have fun.”

In any case, defensive coordinator Randy Shannon just plans to put the best 11 players out on the field to start the games. He is not looking at his secondary as cornerbacks and safeties, but rather as one singular defensive back unit, and the best players in that unit will see the field, no matter what their true position is.

“We’re playing the best guys at that particular time,” said Shannon. “And like I will tell you, by the end of this camp, it may be three corners playing, four corners, on the football field. It may be four safeties on the football field. I cannot tell you. It’s just whoever is the best fit and can give us a chance to win because sometimes you think about, well, here’s the starting safety, here’s the next safety. With us, it’s who’s the next best DB.”

“If we have two corners doing very well and then we have a third corner doing very well and we have two safeties and one of these safeties is not really playing very well, why punish a guy who’s doing very good? Just put him back at safety so you’re getting your best guys on the football field. That’s more what we’ll do.”

Along with finding the right combination of players on the field, some more leadership has to emerge in a secondary that now lacks a lot of experience. Harris was taking on that role with Dawson and Washington, but all three have different strengths as leaders, so losing him was like losing a piece to the puzzle.

“It’s easier to lead when you have three of you, or a bunch of you guys, because everyone kind of backs up one another,” Washington said. “And when you lose a guy, you kind of lose that voice, but the guys are willing to listen and he’ll still be around, which makes our job that much easier to teach the young guys.”

While Harris will still be around at practices and on the sidelines, someone else will have to take on that responsibility on the field. The Gators will look to Gardner to be the next leader to step up alongside the two older guys.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered for Florida’s defensive backs, and the loss of Harris adds even more questions to the list, but there is a lot of talent within the unit and the coaches and players are confident looking ahead to fall camp and the start of the season.

“We’re looking at Nick Washington, we’re looking at Chauncey, we’re looking at Duke,” said McElwain. “Those guys have to do an unbelievable job of communicating with the people in the back end as we’re going forward, and we’re going to come up with some really good players. They’ll get tested, and you know what, I’ll say go ahead and test them because I think they’re going to be all right.”

 

Bailiegh Carlton
A lifelong sports fan, Bailiegh Carlton knew from a young age that she wanted to work in sports in some capacity. Before transferring to the University of Florida to study journalism, she played softball at Gulf Coast State College. She then interned for Gator Country for three years as she worked toward her degree. After graduation, Bailiegh decided to explore other opportunities in the world of sports, but all roads led her right back here. In her time away, she and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world. When she isn't working, she can almost always be found snuggled up with sweet baby Ridley, Cody and her four fur babies.