Harris sheds light on status

As always the month of August has been busy in terms of commitments. Recently members of the 2012 class have begun to come off the board at a fast rate. Whenever a prospect commits that is one less scholarship available, and it impacts other players in the class. There has been a lot of speculation recently about the status of top 20 ranked prospect Gary Harris.

At 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds with developing point guard skills, Harris was tracked by college coaches from the beginning of July until the end. Nearly every power in the Midwest, and some from out of the region were present to watch Harris, and it is no surprise that the scholarship offers came in droves.

To this point Harris has offers from Butler, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon State, Vanderbilt, and Xavier.

A lot of the speculation coming out of the month was that Michigan State was in a favorable position with Harris. Since then the Spartans have received three commitments in the 2012 class. That led to speculation that Harris might or might not have a spot in the Spartans program.

Gary Harris Sr. already has had an opportunity to speak with Spartan Head Coach Tom Izzo about the status of son's recruitment with the school, and came away with the impression that nothing had changed in terms of Michigan State's interest.

"I actually had an opportunity to talk to Coach Izzo and we had a very good conversation," said Harris Sr. "I can say this, based on our conversation it was similar to conversations we had in the past about Gary, and Michigan State being a possible excellent choice for him with his college. I don't think that anything has changed."

Since the end of the month between players committing and coaches trying to schedule visits, the phone has been ringing off the hook for the Harris family. Because of that they are happy it is football season where Harris is also a standout wide receiver.

"Really we are actually glad it is football season," Harris Sr. explained. "We had a good spring and summer, but now it is football season and that allows us to take a step back and reflect on the experiences that we had, and also give thought to the considerations are out there."

Even though the football season allows the family to take a step back, Harris Sr. did admit that they are trying to move forward with the process and come up with a more manageable list of schools, but at the same time they want to be smart about things.

"We all collectively as a family have to discuss things and narrowing things down is something we need to do, but in terms of an actual timeline, we are still trying to figure that out," explained Harris Sr. "I am not trying to sound evasive, but we don't want to rush into it."

According to Harris Sr. they want their son to be someone who honors his word and doesn't go back on a commitment, so that is the reason why they are encouraging him to take his time moving forward in the recruitment.

"We don't want Gary to be like some kids who have committed early and then de-committed, so we want him to make sure everything is right," he explained. "Football gives us an opportunity right now to be away from the pressure cooker a little bit and focus on football and not think that he has to make a decision."

While Harris will be starring on the gridiron on Friday night's, it seems that he will be spending his Saturday's watching the games from sideline seats at some of the biggest football venues in the country.

"We are not going to do as many visits as we have done in the past because of time constraints," said Harris Sr. "Gary has two younger brothers, and we have to be with them. I think last year the games we went to were great to expose us to basketball programs as well as seeing football games, but this time it will be a second look to schools we are seriously considering."

At this point Harris Sr. says that no visits have been officially set up, but that he and the family are currently looking at schedules and working on which dates work best for all parties.