New Miami Hurricanes safety coach could have spurned UM for NFL. Here’s why he didn’t
It was a hectic past couple of weeks for Will Harris.
In mid-February, he was hired to serve as the Miami Hurricanes’ safeties coach on a staff that has been overhauled mightily on the defensive side and now led by new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman.
But shortly after that news came out, reports surfaced that he was being targeted for an NFL job.
Harris on Thursday, during a press conference formally introducing him as part of UM’s staff, acknowledge the legitimacy of the NFL talk but at the end of the day chose to stay with the Hurricanes and coach Mario Cristobal.
Why?
“[Cristobal and I] had some battles up there with Washington and Oregon,” Harris said. “Just watching him from afar, why not go learn off one of the best in the country and be a sponge? I think that was one of the biggest things for me, just having that conversation with him.
“Yeah, NFL things came about,” Harris added, “but at the end of the day, I had to do what’s best for my family.”
Now, Harris along with defensive backs coach and pass-game coordinator Zac Etheridge will be tasked with turning around a secondary that was the Hurricanes’ biggest weakness during their 10-3 campaign last season. That begins on Monday when the Hurricanes begin spring practices.
The biggest area where Harris knows the Hurricanes need to improve: limiting explosive plays. Miami last season gave up 43 passing plays of at least 20 yards, tied for the fourth-most in the ACC.
“I would say the biggest thing for me, and I’ve said this everywhere I’ve been, I think the biggest thing is over-emphasizing the communication part,” Harris said. “I truly believe in that piece because when we’re all on the same page, it doesn’t matter if we’re all wrong or we’re all right. That’s the emphasis I’m talking about going into the spring.”
And Harris has a track record with more than a decade of coaching experience.
He spent the 2024 season with the Florida Gators as their defensive backs coach. Prior to that, he spent a season as the Los Angeles Chargers’ assistant secondary coach in 2023, Georgia Southern’s defensive coordinator in 2022 and four seasons as the University of Washington’s defensive backs coach from 2018-2021. The Huskies had the nation’s best pass defense in his final season there, holding opponents to an average of 142.9 yards per game and six total passing touchdowns against 10 interceptions. This came after five seasons as a defensive backs coach at lower-level colleges.
At Miami, he’ll be working with a Hurricanes’ secondary room has been completely overhauled from last season. They have added five transfers in cornerbacks Charles Brantley (Michigan State), Emmanuel Karnley (Arizona), Ethan O’Connor (Washington State) and Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) along with safety Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State).
Freshman All-American OJ Frederique Jr., Damari Brown and Jadais Richards — the latter two of whom missed significant time in 2024 due to injury — return at cornerback, while Zaquan Patterson, Markeith Williams and Dylan Day are the team’s top returning safeties.
Miami also has four defensive backs in its freshman class.
“I would say that we got some talent in this room,” Harris said. “I couldn’t necessarily compare just yet [to previous teams I coached]. We’ve got a practice Monday. I will say that I’m excited about. I think it’s gonna be a good little spring ball that we got coming up.
“Finding out their strengths and weaknesses, that’s the biggest thing for us right now.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 1:55 PM.
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