Marcus Harris, Auburn football team created new leadership strategies to grow closer together
AUBURN — Auburn football defensive lineman Marcus Harris said on Friday that the team redirected their path and formulated a new strategy following the dismissal of former head coach Bryan Harsin late last season.
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What Harris said: “It’s a testament to the team. We knew last year, when it was still happening when Coach Harsin was fired and Coach Cadillac (Williams) stepped up, we knew the team had to get closer together and bond as a team.”
- Harris and the team devised a new leadership strategy.
- “We decided that this is our team. Whatever coach wants to come, he’s going to add to the value, but we have to start with the team and team leadership,” Harris said. “That’s what we did. We started looking for team leaders and getting everyone to buy into the team leaders. Then, the team leaders can go to the head coach. That’s how we’ve been doing everything.”
Creating “buy in”:
- Harris said the most difficult part was making sure all players, from different schools and backgrounds, understood the new expectations.
- “If you know somebody’s story, you’ll know why they play the game, and you’ll know how hard the play and why they play so hard.”
- Harris added that all the new transfers, all 20 of them, have been open to talk and communicate, making it easy.
The big picture: Marcus Harris, a senior, enters his third season in the Tigers’ program. He arrived as a transfer from Kansas in Harsin’s first recruiting class and now stays around for his second head coach in three years at Auburn.
- Harsin was fired following the blowout loss to Arkansas at home last season. Auburn then played the final four games under the leadership of interim head coach Carnell Williams.
- Harris is part of a current senior class that sits at around 30 players. Some of those seniors have their Super Senior year available to them due to Covid.
