Georgia football Next Generation: AJ Harris called his shot that he would be a ‘Dawg back in middle school
DawgNation Staff
This is the eighth installment of a DawgNation series featuring the “Next Generation” of Georgia football players from the 2023 class. The 247Sports Composite had him as the nation’s no. 3 CB and the No. 41 overall prospect. The On3 Industry Ranking saw him as the nation’s No. 3 CB and the No. 39 overall prospect in his class.
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There are prospects that have stars next to their name. There is an even rarer club that has heard NFL stars certify they are the real deal.
Georgia freshman early enrollee cornerback AJ Harris has had both. Check out these quotes from NFL first-round pick Jaycee Horn. Horn has been a frequent training partner with Harris over the last three or four years.
“He’s really ready right now,” Horn told DawgNation in June of 2021. “It is crazy because he has got the size and everything and he’s not even in the 11th grade yet. Two more years. That’s crazy. He’s filled out. He’s got great technique.”
Context helps add to Horn’s evaluation here. This assessment came in the summer of 2021.
Harris had the talent that first-round NFL cornerbacks take notice of. Jaycee Horn, the first cornerback taken in the 2021 NFL Draft, has worked out with Harris. Oliver Davis II has trained them both.
When it comes to an assessment, the eighth overall selection pulls no punches.
“He’s really ready right now,” Horn told DawgNation in June of 2021. “It is crazy because he has got the size and everything and he’s not even in the 11th grade yet. Two more years. That’s crazy. He’s filled out. He’s got great technique.”
Horn then paid him an even bigger compliment.
“He reminds me of myself,” the NFL first-rounder out of South Carolina said. “He is real mature for his age. Real mature. His play is mature, but just how he acts off the field. I was with him all day yesterday working out with him and just talking to him he’s got the same mindset I had coming out. I just tell him if he works hard and stays out of trouble, then the sky is the limit for him. He’s got everything.”
He added one other strong take.
“He’s going to be a Day 1 ready-to-play guy in college football in two years,” Horn said in the summer of 2021. “He’s there right now. It is crazy that he is only now going to go play in the 11th grade. He was out there working with NFL guys yesterday with us and if nobody told you he was just past the 10th grade, then nobody would know.”
“That’s how good he is right now. He fits right in training with NFL guys right now.”
AJ Harris: What Kirby Smart said about the 2023 Georgia football signee
Those words from Horn will always mean more than stars. Especially when the former South Carolina star said that about Harris before he played his junior year of high school football.
But then the words of the coach of the back-to-back national champions stir the excitement a little bit more.
When asked about Harris on early signing day back in December, the word “competitiveness” was the first word Kirby Smart used to describe the newly-minuted Bulldog signee.
“I mean, he loves football,” Smart said. “[The] number one trait you look for now is how much do you love football. How much can you process information? Because after you height, weight, jump, and test everybody, it becomes what knowledge can you handle in between your ears?”
“I think he is going to excel at that. He takes notes. He is very bright, and he wants it. He is hungry. That’s a part that I can’t coach into him.”
Harris was a name that came up often when talking to the early enrollees that got to take part in bowl practices. While the others went off to their All-American Games, they shared the stories of how Harris was turning heads as soon as he hit the practice field in Athens.
Georgia football Next Generation: Early enrollee Roderick Robinson …