Camp season is in full swing for Texas Tech with several athletes coming in to Lubbock the past couple weekends. One of those being 2027 WR Zion Harness from Temple (TX) Lake Belton, who received an offer from Tech after being at camp on June 1.
RedRaiderSports.com caught up with Harness after he received his offer to talk connections with the staff, building relationships, and more.
What you need to know...
... Harness currently holds 5 offers, including Tech, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, and New Mexico.
... As a sophomore, Harness was named 2nd Team All-District 8-5AD1 wide receiver
... On the track Harness has set personal records in the 100 meter dash (10.82 seconds), 200 meter dash (22.5 seconds), and 400 meter dash (49.8 seconds).
... Harness also goes to the same high school that Tech wide receiver Micah Hudson went to.
Texas Tech camp experience: "Camp is just like a great experience. Everybody, all the coaches.They're very friendly to everybody. I just feel that I had a connection with Coach (Brian) Nance coming in and Coach Juice (Johnson), he talked to me as a freshman, so I just knew when I was going to camp that I'd be getting evaluated and looked at, and I just knew that I had to go ball out. And I did a great one on one session. Ran a good 40. And then after that, he just talked to me, let me know I had the offer. It was a great experience."
How it felt getting the offer: "I just felt blessed like just the position that God put me in to be able to wake up and just had the ability to go play the game, some people not getting the looks that I'm getting, or the evaluations, or anything like that, or opportunities. So it was just joy and just dreams come true."
Goals for junior year: "I just want to just, I just feel I want to be a better teammate, like, I just want to be a leader. As a sophomore, I just felt, you know, I'm one of the younger guys, so I couldn't be as loud as I wanted to be, but I just want to be there for the younger guys on our team and be able to pick up the older guys as well. Just I want to go in and just be have a better season out there. Last year, I only had about, like 300 yards, so I want to see if I can be better than that."
Other schools pushing for you: "I have two camp invites. I'm going to be at Texas on the 12th and Baylor on the 21st so I feel those schools just reaching out, giving me the invite for the evaluation. I feel they have some interest in me. So I just want to go there and ball out and see what the outcome is."
Interest in Tech after the offer: "They've been showing me a lot of love recently. They really been looking into, like my social media, reposting me to their stuff. So I feel the connection is building. So they, they're definitely one of my top ones right now."
Connection with Micah Hudson: "He's like a brother to me. I've known him since we were young. He played on the same AAU team as me. And so we just, we grew up together in the Temple area, and he was, he was down for a little bit, like Easter time. We were just working out, you just just being that older person, just looking out for me, letting me know, like, what college is like, and just just putting me through college, like level drills, and just teaching me what he knows. Basically me and him, we have a great connection.
Communication with Micah recently: "You know, I haven't really talked to him. I feel like he's trying to lock back in for the season to have a better, better season, because he didn't really get to shine as much. So I feel like he's just locked in right now, so I haven't really had a chance to talk to him yet, but hoping to hear from him soon."
Interest in coming back to Tech for a visit: "Oh most definitely, if they want to, if they want to invite me for a visit or a game, I would love to come back out to Lubbock. I have some people out there that I know, so it'd be a great time. And them just being in the Texas area is just not too far from home. But I just feel that it would be a great experience for me to go back up to Lubbock."
Connection with Brian Nance and Coach Juice Johnson: "Coach Nance, he's basically coached me since I was young. He had a son, and his son's about my brother's age, so they're about to be freshmen. So we've been working out for for a long time. He's still living temple so and then Coach Juice, he was just at one of our practices. He was watching this practice my freshman year during spring ball, and he just, he talked to me, let me know stuff I need to work on, and that I could take this thing and run with it. I just put my mind to it and just stay on the right path. So I think I have pretty decent connection with both of them for sure."
Talking with Joey McGuire at camp: "I did. He congratulated me. So he let me know that I was one of the studs. Great feeling coming from the head coach. And he was, like, really, one of the first, like, head coaches that I've talked to from a college besides Arkansas. So just great feeling to know that the head coaches, he believes in me as well. Not just the position coach."
Arkansas camp scheduled: "I haven't gotten camps from them. They really just gave they gave me the offer. Ole Miss was my first offer. Then Arkansas came the next day. So I haven't really got any camps from them. They just, they just gave me the offer. So I'm really just in the local area right now. I'm going to be, I'm also going to be attending A&M on Sunday."
What it felt like to receive first offer from an SEC school: "It was just a very great feeling, just like a school of that caliber, taking opportunity on. When I got the offer, I was trying to keep it professional, but as soon, as soon as I was away from the coach, I was just jumping up and down, thanking God for for my for the opportunity that he's gave me. And I just feel like just that school right there, just like it gave me confidence. Like, soon as we got to spring ball, I just felt like I was the best out, like I was playing fast with way more confidence than I did coming in being on varsity as a younger guy. So I just feel that boosted my confidence level way, way, way higher. I just like, I can go at anybody, and actually, I can come out on top. That was just a great feeling."
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