Lumberjack Game Day Feature: Kedrick Harrison
9/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
This feature story on senior DE Kedrick Harrison ran in the September 10th SFA Football game day program. Get your copy of the game day program at each Lumberjack home game for a different feature of your favorite Lumberjacks.
READY TO LEAVE HIS LEGACY
By Rand Champion | SFA Athletic Media Relations
Whenever senior defensive end Kedrick Harrison looks around the Stephen F. Austin locker room, he’s reminded of just how many things have changed since his freshman season. Teammates, coaches, and even expectations for the program.
But for Harrison, and the few other constants during that span, it’s been an experience that has helped develop a deep bond between both themselves and the program.
“I think our bond is definitely closer,” Harrison said. “There were close to 30 guys that came into the program when I did, and now it’s trickled down to four or five of us left. We could have picked the easy way out and left, but it speaks a lot to our character. Those of us that stayed, it means something to us to finish what we started.”
What Harrison has started has helping develop the Lumberjack defensive line into one of the toughest and most productive in the Southland Conference. For the last two seasons, the unit has ranked among the conference leaders in both tackles for loss and sacks, ranking in the top-20 nationally in both categories in 2014 as SFA made its postseason run.
The attitude among the defensive front is a feeling of ownership – knowing that for the defense, and ultimately the team, to be successful, they will need to set the tone. It was a mindset Harrison learned from his former leaders, and one that he continues to hold at the forefront.
“The year we went 3-9 (2013), that offseason me and Lance Skyler were talking, and we came to the realization that it was going to take us. We were the ones that were going to have to change the mindset,” Harrison recalls. “Myself, Lance, Ishmiah Miles, Donald Bryant and Shayvion Hatten just ran with it because we wanted to be the best. We wanted to be the best on the field and lift everyone else up around us.”
Harrison quickly emerged as one of the leaders on that defensive front as well, entering his fourth year as a starter for the Lumberjacks. To date, he has posted 24 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, sitting on the cusp of cracking the program’s all-time top-10 in both statistical categories.
The drive to wanting to be successful is something that was planted in Harrison’s mindset early. His father is an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan, something that rubbed off on Kedrick who shares his dad’s fandom of the black and gold, modeling his game after linebacker Troy Polamalu growing up.
Harrison actually didn’t take up football until middle school, but once he started, there was no turning back. Playing linebacker both in middle school and high school, he earned the staring job as a sophomore at Coldspring-Oakhurst and helped guide the Trojans to deep playoff runs over the next three seasons, including an appearance in the state finals in 2010 at AT&T Stadium, falling to eventual state champion Carthage.
Individually, Harrison made quite a name for himself as well, being named a three-time all-district selection. He was named an honorable mention all-state selection in 2010 before being named a first team all-state honoree in 2011 as Coldspring-Oakhurst won 14 games in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Still, the games Harrison remembers the most are the ones where the Trojans came up short.
“I lost maybe five or six games my whole high school career, and two of those were to the state champions,” Harrison recalls. “The wins were fun, and it was a product of our hard work, but those losses were what really served as motivation."
Harrison had a few collegiate programs looking at him, but ultimately he chose SFA, stating that for him there was just something about the school and the program that drew him to Nacogdoches. It was a decision, however, that raised some eyebrows with some of his high school friends and teammates.
“Coldspring is 20 minutes away from Huntsville, so pretty much all of my classmates and a few of my teammates went to Sam Houston,” Harrison said. “So yea, I hear it all the time. It really has made me come to appreciate the rivalry. I think it’s a very underrated rivalry, especially when you consider what the two namesakes of the school mean to the history of Texas. It’s a great rivalry and I’ve got nothing but respect for those guys.”
But then he pauses, and a small grin forms on Harrison’s face.
“This is my last chance to play in it, and I really want to end the streak.”
As Harrison prepares for his final Battle of the Piney Woods, as well as his final season in Nacogdoches, he understands the mantle that comes with being a senior leader, especially one that has been such a key component of the Lumberjack defense for the last three years. Building a legacy is something that is important to him, doing so both on and off the field.
Harrison realizes the attitude and mindset of being a Lumberjack defensive lineman is something bigger than him. It was something that was impressed upon him when he was an underclassman, and now he is trying to pass on to his successors.
Seeing young talent like John Franklin, Gary Sampson and Jack Martin beginning to understand what this program is all about, and take ownership of it, has been fulfilling to Harrison, knowing he will leave the program in good hands.
“The biggest thing for me to pass on to those guys is to work hard - work to be the very best you can be, no matter the circumstances,” Harrison said. “It’s been wonderful to watch. I remember when John Franklin got here, he thought it was going to be easy. To see him from then to now, it’s made me proud. I look and see guys like Gary Sampson and Jack Martin and it’s really clicking for them. I want to push them like the older guys pushed me when I first got here. That’s the legacy I want to leave to leave to those younger guys - that we’re always going to fight to the end.”
That legacy of working hard also continues off the field as well as Harrison is one of five current Lumberjacks to have earned their degrees, graduating this past May with a degree in kinesiology and a minor in history. The first college graduate in his immediate family, Harrison continues to look toward the future, having begun graduate school and focusing on secondary education.
“My dream is to be a coach,” Harrison said. “Whether at the collegiate level or at the high school level, I want to be able to influence kids because my coaches had such an influence on me. I have a lot of people that look up to me, and it means a lot that I can show to others they can do it. I feel it’s my way of showing my gratitude for all those who never gave up on me.”
And just how does Harrison hope SFA fans remember him once his playing days are done?
“Just as a relentless guy,” said Harrison. “I hadn’t played a down at defensive end before I got here, but I was up for the challenge and ran with it, and that’s how I want to be remembered. “
-SFA-
