How New Face Brings Experience to the Wildcats Linebacker Room

The linebacker room has been a serious point of emphasis for Arizona when it attacked the transfer portal and recruitment road during the offseason,

The Wildcats had a string of bad luck roll their way for the 2024 season when it came to injuries, specifically Jacob Manu, who suffered a season-ending knee injury and was arguably the anchor for he linebacking corps.

Now at the start of fall training camp, the room looks a lot different for the upcoming 2025 season, as Manu and Justin Flowe both have transferred to different teams-Manu is now playing at Washington with former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch and Flowe is at UNLV.

Arizona brought in three new transfers over the offseason, along with two freshmen, all looking to make a name for themselves.

"Let's start with Taye (Brown) first," Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. "I told Taye Brown back in January, I'm going to do everything I can to out-recruit you. He looked at me and said, 'Well go ahead, you ain't' and he was right. Max (Harris) has done a great job. Levi (Su'a) has had a first two days which has been awesome because we hadn't had anything out of Levi since he's been here. He has been hurt for the majority of it...The leadership skills in that room are something special between Taye, Max, Riley (Wilson) and Chase (Kennedy) which creates competition and value in that room."

Harris, who was mentioned by Gonzales, is one of those players who are fighting for a starting spot amongst a long depth chart of both newcomers and returners.

The 6-foot-0, 231-pound linebacker began his career at Incarnate Word where he racked up 26 tackles in nine games played.

Harris really burst onto the scene in 2023 with UL Monroe, where he accounted for an impressive 79 tackles, one interception and one forced fumble in 12 games with 11 starts.

During his first and only seson at Texas State, Harris was fourth in tackles on the Bobcats with 44. He also notched two quarterback hits and a forced fumble in 12 games, 11 starting.

Harris believes he adds experience and depth to a revamped linebacker room that also features a new coach in Josh Bringuel.

"I think that in the linebacker room, specifically that we brought in, me and Riley Wilson, two older guys," Harris said. "So I think we bring experience to the room, but I think we brought a lot of depth. I think that everybody in the linebacker room can play. So I think everybody in the linebacker room will be playing this year, and things like that. So that's what I think we brought the most, is some depth."

Coming from three previous schools, Harris carries a wide array of knowledge that he learned from his coaches. It is that kind of knowledge that will make him a valuable piece to the linebacker room when it gets later into the season.

"I had a coach that had told me, 'You don't control how you get on the field. It's how you get off the field.' So I think I took that and that always helps me keep a positive attitude. Realizing that it is what it is. So you get on the field, you try to get off the field as fast as possible. That's, that's funny part about defense,

"I had another coach who basically helped me realize that you're never too good to do anything. Never, never, never think that you're too big to do a job, and things like that. So I think a lot of these things have leaked into my game, little, small things have, you know, helped me increase my game."

With less than a month to go before the first game of the season, the Wildcats' defense has a finite amount of time to gel together, a task that isn't impossible at all. Harris believes the defense can come together as a whole by simply doing their job.

"Everyone has a job to do," Harris said. "I think that everybody, the DBs just covering and the D line rushing and linebackers doing their thing, whether they're doing either one of those things. I think that everybody just being on the same page is going to complement each other."