2022 Four-Star Running Back Arlen Harris Talks His Recruitment, Where LSU Football Stands
LSU 2022 running back recruit Arlen Harris has had a lot of time recently to sit back and reflect on his recruiting process. As a four-star prospect out of Saint Peters, Missouri, Harris has been able to take the process slowly, something he said benefits him most.
"Recruiting has been good, it's been a little lighter than freshman year but I have no complaints," Harris said. "I always tell coaches and recruiters that I'm not offer chasing so it's not a problem for me. It's been a good process so far and I've remained patient. I just sit back and think about all of the things that I have coming my way and it's nice."
A few of the big schools recruiting Harris consistently are Iowa, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Northwestern and Ball State. You might notice that one school that's missing from the list is LSU.
The Tigers offered Harris after his freshman season in January of 2019, one of the first teams to extend Harris a scholarship. However, since that time, Harris hasn't heard from the purple and gold.
"They were one of the first schools to actually offer me so I thought that was pretty huge," Harris said. "Just lately, it's been pretty slow, not just from LSU but a number of schools are probably focused on getting in their 2020 class finished and moving on to 2021. So I haven't heard from LSU in a while but it's like that with a lot of schools at the moment."
According to 247Sports, Harris is the No. 15 ranked running back in the 2022 class and is coming off a sophomore season where he rushed for 1,763 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Even though Harris hasn't heard from the Tigers' brass really since he received the offer his freshman season, it's an opportunity he would certainly welcome should LSU reach out in the future.
"I'm a person that always likes to keep my options open so it's definitely a school I would consider if we can communicate down the line," Harris said.
Harris comes from a football background as his father, Arlen Sr., was a running back at the University of Virginia and then spent five seasons in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.
"He's just basically telling me to take it in, don't take it for granted, don't stress yourself out but to also take it seriously," Harris said. "He's been through it all so he's told me there are going to be periods where it's slow and then a few weeks later recruiting will just go crazy. Just take it slow, enjoy it and be smart."
Even after an explosive sophomore campaign, there are always areas of his game Harris wants to improve including getting bigger and faster going into an important junior season.
"I'd say my vision is real good on the field but one thing on the field I feel I can improve on is learning not to stop my feet on contact," Harris said. "When I make a defender miss, keep going and not stop my momentum."
