Syracuse transfer Taj Harris commits to UK, boosting receiving corps for 2022
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Game day: Tennessee 45, No. 18 Kentucky 42
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The transfer portal gave Kentucky four of its top players in the 2021 season. Recruiting the portal will continue to be paramount to the Cats’ success moving forward, especially when it comes to adding experience at positions of need on the roster, like wide receiver. Enter Taj Harris.
Harris, a star for Syracuse the last three seasons and part of the current year, announced his commitment to Kentucky via Twitter on Saturday morning. Harris, who has never redshirted, will have up to two years of eligibility at UK via the COVID-19 waiver.
“I found home,” Harris wrote as part of his announcement.
The 6-foot-2, 172-pound receiver played in only three games for the Orange this season, leaving available the option to redshirt this season. At the time he announced his intention to leave Syracuse on Oct. 3, Harris led the Orange in receptions with 16 for 171 yards. In his time there, the New Jersey native recorded 2,028 yards on 151 receptions, both top-10 totals in Syracuse history.
In addition to Kentucky, Mississippi State, Utah and Western Kentucky were among the schools that reached out to Harris, who visited Kentucky ahead of and during its game against Tennessee on Saturday.
Harris adds to a recruiting class that already includes three wide receivers, including four-star prospect Dane Key, a standout at Frederick Douglass High School who committed last week. Three-star speedsters Jordan Anthony (5-11, 160 pounds) and Brandon White (5-9, 165 pounds) have also picked the Cats.
UK signed four receivers as part of the 2021 class, although one of them — Devonte Ross — never enrolled. Two of them — Dekel Crowdus, from Frederick Douglass, and Chris Lewis — were four-star recruits, while the other, Chauncey Magwood, is the only one who’s seen the field beyond a special-teams role. Crowdus appeared to be in the receiver rotation coming out of fall camp, but a preseason injury has sidelined him to date, and whether he plays this season is to be determined.
The addition of Harris will guarantee that UK’s receiving corps has a proven veteran in its company in 2022. Wan’Dale Robinson, UK’s leading receiver this season who was also a transfer-portal coup, could return but is expected to declare for the NFL Draft following his junior season.
Josh Ali, one of just a handful of UK receivers who’d recorded a catch before this season, will graduate. Demarcus Harris, who’s recorded four catches over UK’s last two games, including his first touchdown as a Wildcat, will be a junior next season. Senior Clevan Thomas, who suffered a knee injury in spring camp, could return for a fifth year and would give UK additional depth and experience at the position.
This story was originally published November 6, 2021 at 11:13 AM.
