'I just wanted to be home:' New Wildcat Jason Harris eager to join team, reunite with brother

The highly anticipated Harris Bowl will take place this fall. And everybody will be rooting for the same team.

Colorado edge rusher Jason Harris, a Gilbert Higley High School product and brother of current Arizona linebacker Jalen Harris, announced his decision to transfer to the UA Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-7-inch, 240-pound Harris, the son of “Desert Swarm” member and former All-Pac-10 linebacker Sean Harris and ex-Arizona women’s basketball player Cha-Ron Harris, will have four years of eligibility remaining.

He called the decision to transfer “definitely fun and exciting.”

“I’m looking forward to building new relationships at Arizona and be with my family,” he said. “I think that’s the big part.”

Harris is the third transfer to join the Wildcats since head coach Jedd Fisch’s hiring, joining two former Northwestern players: running back Drake Anderson and safety Gunner Maldonado. Like Harris, the two are Phoenix-area natives.

Between Harris, Anderson, Maldonado, Baylor offensive lineman transfer and former Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep star Davis DiVall and Canyon del Oro High School running back Stevie Rocker, the Wildcats now have five players from Arizona committed to their 2021 recruiting class, the program’s most since 2017. The latest pickups reflect Fisch’s desire to both add talent from the NCAA transfer portal and recruit in-state prospects.

Harris was initially recruited by Kevin Sumlin’s staff for the 2020 recruiting class, but the four-star prospect spurned the UA — and the opportunity to reunite with his brother — for a chance to play at Colorado.

Harris was one of two in-state recruits Sumlin visited via the famed “Swagcopter,” when the former UA coach helicoptered to Higley’s 36-7 win over Goodyear Millennium during the 2019 season; the other was current UA defensive lineman and former Florence star Regen Terry.

As it turned out, time away from home was just what Harris needed.

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“That’s real life,” he said. “You go out and get a job, it might be somewhere far from your family. You just never know, so you have to embrace it and deal with things like that. ... It’s helped me grow.”

The coach who recruited Harris to Colorado, Mel Tucker, left for Michigan State after signing day. Karl Dorrell was hired to replace him, and the Buffaloes were one of the biggest stories in the Pac-12 this fall. Colorado earned a bid to the Alamo Bowl, where it was defeated by Texas on Dec. 29.

Harris entered the NCAA transfer portal two days later. He said the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on his mental health.

“Nothing bad happened; just COVID hit,” Harris said. “Everything just felt awkward with COVID. Not having my family around — it was just rough leaving the backbone. I’ve never been that far away from my family like that.

“But I got a chance to grow up and mature in Colorado, and I’m grateful for it. I had to learn to be on my own and how nobody is going to save you. I was grateful for the experience, but with COVID, it was just tough being there.”

Harris said that while he was open to transferring career somewhere besides the UA, “I always knew in my mind that I was going to Arizona.”

“It wouldn’t have been smart to not hear everyone’s options and what (other schools) had for me. ... At the end of the day, I just wanted to be home,” he said.

Jason and Jalen Harris will be teammates for the first time since Jason’s freshman season of high school, when they played together at Mesa Desert Ridge.

“It’s definitely something that’s big in my household,” Harris said.

“It’s sort of a big deal, but now I gotta go put the work in and work hard and make a name for myself. It’s a great accomplishment, but a lot of expectations may come with that, so I’m just ready to work and prove why I am who I am.”