Starting Miami safety Jaden Harris has mentally elevated his game

Against the Florida Gators in the season opener, the 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt sophomore created problems for the opposition with his play. He finished with seven tackles, one-half sack, and one interception in his team’s 41-17 road win.

Harris caught the interception on his back against Florida at the 2:50 mark of the fourth quarter. This play effectively ended the game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. On Tuesday, Harris walked media members through his game-ending interception.

“I was just reading the quarterback,” Harris said. “I was just tracking the ball. I was just tracking it as if it was a slant. I was driving down. It was taking too long for it to come out. I can’t explain it. I just adjusted to the ball. I just had to make sure I caught it.”

Harris made his first two starts last season as a redshirt freshman. His debut came on September 14, 2023, against Bethune-Cookman (one tackle), and his second start was on September 23, 2023, against Temple (three tackles).

In ten total games last season, including the two starts, Harris recorded seven tackles and one-half tackle for loss. The past action on the field has helped to give Harris a sense of what he accomplished with more time to work with. He shared his thoughts on how it all went for him against Florida with media members.

“I felt nervous,” Harris said. “I felt like practice made it easier to play in the game because practices are super hard. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the hardest days of the week. Saturday is just for fun. Go out with your team and your brothers. Have fun and fly around without thinking because all the thinking and the tough parts it’s in the preparation. That’s how it went for me.”

Last week’s season opener proved to be a confidence booster for Harris.

“It really came from practice,” Harris said. “In my opinion, I feel like I go up against the best quarterback in the nation every day. When you go up against guys like Damien Martinez, Xavier Restrepo, Cam Ward, it’s pretty tough. My confidence came in the spring. My confidence came in the fall camp. Practices are hard. The games are easy. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Harris’s elevated game has been evident over the past several months with the Canes. He spoke to how it came about in a deeper sense.

“The biggest thing I had to focus on was my mental,” Harris said. “When you know what you’re doing in your assignment, it allows you to play fast. I worked on my breaks. Really just getting in the playbook and watching a lot of tape. Meesh Powell emphasizes on watching a lot of tape so that you can know what’s going on and be one step ahead.”

As the Canes move on from last weekend’s game against Florida to this weekend’s game against Florida A&M (Saturday, Sept. 7; 6 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium), Harris opened up a bit about the weekly process.

“We just come to practice focused,” Harris said. “We just know that it’s another task at hand. I could tell as a team we already forgot about the last game. The next game is the most important one. We’re just all focused, and we’re just trying to do the same thing, to go out and win as a team.”

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