Recruiting

Staying at QB key for Booker T. Washington’s Treon Harris

 

The main reason Treon Harris chose to play football at FSU is because he was told he could continue playing quarterback.

 

 Treon Harris throws downfield for Booker T. Washington against Jacksonville Bolles in Class 4A state championship, Saturday, December 8, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.
Treon Harris throws downfield for Booker T. Washington against Jacksonville Bolles in Class 4A state championship, Saturday, December 8, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.
Roberto Gonzalez / Roberto Gonzalez

mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

When Treon Harris got a chance to visit Florida State last summer, one of the things that blew him away about Jimbo Fisher was how the 47-year-old coach didn’t mind having him and a bunch of other sweaty teenagers use his football office as a hangout to play video games and chew gum.

“We were playing [ NCAA Football 2013], making a lot of noise and he didn’t say nothing. In fact, he loved it,” said Harris, a Class of 2014 football standout at Miami Booker T. Washington High and the youngest brother to former University of Miami standouts Tim Harris Jr. (track) and Brandon Harris (football).

“He was just a very cool guy.”

What Treon really likes most about Fisher is what he says Fisher promised him — the opportunity to continue to play quarterback at the next level.

That’s why the 5-11, 187-pound high school senior called FSU’s coaches Monday and told them he was accepting their scholarship offer over Arizona and Boston College, his other finalists among a handful of programs offering him a chance to play quarterback first and not switch him to slot receiver or cornerback.

“The point of him going there is to compete with some big-time guys that are there, push himself and be in a position to show he can lead a team of that caliber once he’s ready,” said Tim “Ice” Harris Sr., Treon’s father and a two-time state championship winning coach at Booker T., who served as a special assistant at UM under Randy Shannon.

“One thing I felt good about was that once Coach Fisher saw him in camp and saw he could spin it, the size didn’t matter. Everything is on Treon now to go in and compete at his position and do the things he needs to do to show he can get better at his position.”

Treon, rated a consensus four-star recruit as an athlete by Rivals.com, ESPN and 247Sports.com, received a scholarship offer from UM. But it was to play slot receiver or defensive back, not quarterback. Had the Hurricanes promised the same opportunity as the Seminoles, he said, “it probably would have come down to FSU or UM for me. I liked both of them growing up.”

Harris, 24-3 as a starting quarterback since his sophomore season, has put up some eye-opening numbers as a dual-threat weapon in the high-octane spread offense at Booker T. In his two varsity seasons, he has combined to complete 61.4 percent of his passes for 4,364 yards, 47 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also has run for 1,691 yards and 35 touchdowns while leading the Tornadoes to back-to-back appearances in Class 4A state finals.

Although he knows the odds are stacked against him, Harris believes he can play quarterback at the next level and maybe beyond.

“For a coach, putting a comparison on a kid to a pro is kind of weird, but if I had to pick one right now an obvious one would be Russell Wilson,” said Harris’ older brother Tim Jr., his offensive coordinator and position coach at Booker T.

“You look at his talents, athletic ability and height, it’s all favorable in terms of Treon’s measurables. But we tell Treon all the time you don’t know the type of work a guy like Russell Wilson had to put in to get to the level he’s at being a so-called undersized guy. So you push a little harder in conditioning, be a great leader, be first in everything you do. That’s how you beat those odds of people saying you’re too small or can’t do this or that.”

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