Safety Christian Harrison Dives Into Cincinnati Bearcats Football's Key Factors For Defensive Success

 Christian Harrison has been a solid addition to the Bearcats' secondary this season after transferring in from Tennessee.

The rangy safety has already blown past his career-highs in tackles (31) and pass breakups (five) to amass a respectable 68.7 Pro Football Focus grade this season.

I caught up with him after practice this week, and he dove into the key factor that's helped the defense allow just 18.9 points per game this season (26th nationally).

"Communication," Harrison said about the biggest key for the secondary to succeed. "Handling things before the snap comes, telling the corners. Handling things pre-snap, and also communicating post-snap, just the whole play, just a lot of talking."

Harrison and the whole secondary will have to be ready for Baylor's prolific passing offense. The Bears boast the nation's top passing attack by yards per game (344.3), but are just 58th in EPA/dropback..

"This quarterback at Baylor is looking to throw the ball down the field," UC head coach Scott Satterfield said about Sawyer Robertson this week. "They do get rid of the ball pretty quickly. They have some really good weapons on the outside. You have to defend it a little bit differently. So that defensively, you don't have to worry about the quarterback taking off and running and getting yards from you. 

"There are different things that we have to worry about, the accuracy that he has, the strong arm that he has, the ability to throw the ball down the field in tight windows, where maybe the last two opponents couldn't do that. There are just some differences that you're going to have to defend more than if you run.”

Check out my full conversation with Harrison below: