Washington State has landed their fifth verbal commit for the 2014 class and their second of the week. RB/WR Keith Harrington from Northeast HS in Saint Petersburg, Florida announced he was going to WSU on Thursday. WR Zaire Andre, LB Greg Hoyd, DE Marcus Griffin, and QB Peyton Bender have committed already with Andre committing earlier this week.
Harrington is listed as a RB but will go out and play outside for the Cougars in the slot. At 5-8, 165-pounds Harrington will fit perfectly in the slot position. Since head coach Mike Leach runs an “Air Raid” offense there really is not much of a need for a running back with the skills that Harrington has to offer. So putting him out in the slot and utilizing him as a receiver will be the best thing for him.
When watching Harrington’s film the first thing I noticed was his speed and ability to get in the open field. In his junior year Harrington had 1,372 all-purpose yards and 10 touchdowns. He also averaged 10.5 yards on the ground and almost 17 through the air. Because of the speed that Harrington had as well as the his agility to make the first defender miss and quite often the next few as well he was able to make a lot of longer runs. Especially when he gets in open field.
The next thing I noticed was his field vision. In a play in his highlight film Harrington starts on the left side of the field, goes to the right, then back to the left to score all with ease all while navigating around the defense.
Harrington is able to stay low, break tackles, and move through the defense. Something that helps him stay low is his lack of height. At 5-8 he stands as a smaller receiver/back and uses that to his advantage. Because he stays so low he is able to make his move and get up field, he understands the game is North and South.
One thing I noticed in his film is that he is more of an open field runner and at some point struggles when getting into congestion. Even with his abilities to break tackles and make moves on people he is not able to move in congestion as well as others might be. This might take him out of contention of returning for the Cougars.
The final thing I noticed in him and possibly one of the more important factors to a players game is their attitude. If a player is shy and is not the best “people person” then it can lead to internal issues, I did not notice that at all with Harrington. After making a hit or scoring he would get up and be proud of what he just did and that stood out a lot to me.
Besides Washington State Harrington has offers from Arizona, Boise State, Wake Forrest, Ball State, Indiana, and Marshall.
Below you will find a link to Harrington’s Hudl page.