Cal Cornerback Daniel Harris on Competing Every Day, Belief in This Secondary
The Georgia transfer made the cross-country move for more snaps and a chance to be part of something being built from the ground up.
Daniel Harris came a long way from Georgia to get to Berkeley, and the decision came down to trust in the people running the program.
“I came here because it’s different, it’s very far, and I mess with Tosh and the coaching staff and how they run things here. It was a little different because I’m coming from the east coast, but I’ve been picking up things step by step and just going about everything. It’s been good though.”
As a cornerback, Harris sees himself as a versatile piece.
“I feel like I bring everything as a corner. I bring man tangibles, zone tangibles. I can bring anything you want, it don’t really matter. I can play inside, star, any way you want, I can do it.”
He expected a bigger culture shock coming from Georgia, and was pleasantly surprised.
“I would say it’s more physical at Georgia, but I thought it was going to be a way bigger difference. It’s still physical here. It’s not too different because Tosh came from Oregon and Oregon was doing the same stuff we were doing at Georgia.”
Asked to name a comp for his game, Harris had a specific answer.
“I’ll probably say Tariq Woolen. We got the same body frame. We do the same things. We play zone. We’re tall, long, fast. Real fast.”
His time at Georgia sharpened him in ways he’s carrying forward.
“I’ll probably say the physical part of it, being more physical than the person you’re going against, and learning the defense. I learned a lot of stuff at Georgia.”
Going up against Cal’s loaded receiver transfers in practice has been exactly what he came for.
“It’s been competitive. We just go at it every day. I love going against those guys. It’s competitive, and I love competing. It ain’t nothing to it for real.”
Tosh Lupoi’s defensive background was a selling point, and the pitch about what’s being built here landed.
“He’s a defensive coordinator turned head coach, and I already put him in a favorable position because he’s on the defensive side of the ball and I play defense. I just put two and two together. He was basically telling me who I was coming in with and saying he’s trying to flip the whole program around, and I was with it. I’m trying to do the same thing.”
Harris also sees this year’s secondary as something special.
“Over the past few years the secondary has been good, but I feel like this year this is probably the best secondary that’s come through here. I ain’t gonna lie. I mess with this secondary. We got a nice secondary.”