THE ELITE 11 CLASS OF 2021: This is the tenth part of an 11-part series highlighting the top football players in the Newton County Appeal coverage area for the upcoming season. Local coaches nominated the players, while the Elite 11 preseason football team is selected solely by Newton County Appeal sports editor Robbie Robertson. The players are being revealed one at a time, in no particular order.
As an eighth grader, Ky’yon Harris was a standout running back for the Union junior high team, leading them to an undefeated season.
But as a freshman, Harris was moved to safety to help shore up the Yellowjackets’ defensive backfield.
Harris responded by leading the Yellowjackets with seven interceptions and was an all-division selection.
“He came in as a true freshman and looked like a freshman physically, but played like an upper classman,” Union coach Jordan Wren said. “He saw where junior high was different than high school he had a lot of responsibilities and there was a learning curve for him. But the one thing that he does have is if he does bite on something, he has the speed to recover. He is a pure athlete and from what I understand, if you are a Harris from Union, you are probably going to be a pretty good athlete.”
While Harris came in weighing 160 pounds as a freshman, the sophomore has muscled up in the offseason, coming in at 195 pounds as the season gets ready to start.
“He was about 160 pounds as a freshman and looked like a freshman,” Wren said. “He’s about 195 to 200 pounds and that was the big plan to put weight on him. He is going to be playing our coverage safety this year. He’s one of our best players on defense and he is definitely one of our best football players.”
Wren said Harris will also get playing time on offense this season,.
“We anticipate him getting about 10 carries a game this season,” Wren said. “He is a true running back but we put our best players on defense. He has a lot of ability. I have had a lot of people who are comparing him to Kenyon as a freshman, and they say he is further along than Kenyon at this point. I can tell from watching him every day, and he has a running back body and vision. Right now he is primarily a defensive player. But next year, he may predominantly be an offensive player. Who knows, he may quarterback next year.”
On defense, Harris will transition from strong safety to free safety.
“We are moving him to more of a coverage safety,” Wren said. “The strong safety was more of a contact guy. Ky’yon is a really good coverage guy and we are putting him to the strength of the coverage game. Last year, nobody would run to his side of the field. Now if they run to his side of the field, we will have one of our better tacklers coming downhill on them. He may be a sophomore, but he plays like an upperclassmen.”
While the comparisons to Clay are natural for Harris, the question of college football is a legitimate one.
“I think Kyon has a bright future in college football,” Wren said. “The only thing that concerns me is his height. There are a bunch of 5-foot-10, 190 pound kids. I think he’s definitely going to play college football. I think it will boil down to whatever somebody is needing. He’s got a lot of football left to play. By the time he gets to his senior year, he will be 215 or 220 pounds and he’s probably a running back. One thing that might help him is there will be a lot of college coaches here to watch Kenyon and Cameron (Pascal) and I think that will help his recruiting.”
When college coaches call, Wren said they always ask about character and work ethic, something that Harris doesn’t have a problem with.
“He is a quiet kid and an A-B student,” Wren said. “I don’t think he’s ever been written up. He takes coaching very well and he is an athlete that can play two or three positions. I get a lot of calls from college coaches. They already know they are good players. They don’t ask about that. The first thing they ask is about his family life, what’s his work ethic like. They already know they can play or they wouldn’t be calling. I think Ky’yon checks the box on all of those character things that the college coaches are looking for.”
