Michigan Football: The Wolverine's Top-25 Since '97 - No. 19
The Wolverine continues its series of the top 25 Michigan players since 1997 with No. 19, David Harris.
Harris was the lynch-pin of the 2005 and 2006 Michigan defenses, and helped lead the Wolverines to a 11-2 season, a Rose Bowl appearance and the No. 8 ranking in the country in his final campaign.
Harris joined the Wolverines as a three-star recruit from Grand Rapids, Mich. and the No. 23 inside linebacker in the country according to Rivals.com. He set a Ottawa Hills High School record with 158 tackles his junior season, and he was named to the All-State team by the Detroit Free Press as a senior.
Due to an injury, Harris redshirted his first year in Ann Arbor, and played sparingly the next two years. Harris became the full time starter for the 2005 season, but the team had a mediocre season, finishing 7-5 and coming in fourth in the conference standings that year behind No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 15 Wisconsin. Michigan did defeat the Big Ten Champion Nittany Lions that season 27-25 and Harris led the team in tackles that season with 88.
The Wolverines were one of the hottest teams in the country to start the 2006 season, bringing down the No. 2 Notre Dame team on the way to 11-0 start to the season. Harris and the Wolverines went into the Ohio State game against the No. 1 Buckeyes as the No. 2 team in the country, but fell to Ohio State and then USC in the Rose Bowl, dropping to No. 8 in the country. Harris was all over the field during the 2006 season, racking up 103 tackles and earning team co-MVP, sharing the honor with running back Mike Hart. His outstanding year on the field also garnered him All-Big Ten first team honors from the coaches and second team from the Media. He was also a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given to the nation's top linebacker.
Following the 2006 season, Harris entered the 2007 NFL Draft, and the New York Jets traded up to select him in the second round, No. 46 overall. He earned his first start in October of that year and, though he only played nine game, he tallied 127 tackles and five sacks. His rookie year earned him PFWA All-Rookie Team honors. He was also voted a second team All-Pro following the 2009 season. So far in his professional career, Harris has 1,088 combined tackles and has racked up 35.5 sacks, and has played in two AFC Conference Championship games.
In June 2017 the Jets released Harris. He has since signed a two-year contract with the New England Patriots.
The full list:
No. 19: David Harris
No. 20: Ernest Shazor
No. 21: John Navarre
No. 22: Jake Butt
No. 23: David Molk
No. 24: Taco Charlton
No. 25: Jeremy Gallon