This fast Notre Dame football player is OK with a slow approach toward securing success

SOUTH BEND − One four-letter word best fits Notre Dame football graduate student Jayden Harrison.

It fits when the wide receiver drops back deep for a kickoff and stares down 11 defenders flying down various coverage lanes ready to knock him into next week so he can find a way through. It fits when he lines up wide and wants to run by his guy with nothing but end zone green in sight.

Fast.

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Harrison plays fast. He was drawn to play at Notre Dame because of an offense that promised to play ... yep ... fast. He runs fast, though he claims not to know just how fast. Ask for his 40-yard dash time, which has been reported to be anywhere from 4.5 to 4.6 to 4.7 seconds, and he offers a sly/shy smile. Don’t know the 40, he’ll say. How fast is he then?

Fast. Just fast.

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Another four-letter word best fits Harrison’s adjustment to No. 14 Notre Dame (3-1). To big-time college football. To handling his business every day on his third stop after stints at Vanderbilt and Marshall, where he earned All-American honors as a kick returner last season.

For Harrison, this season has been the opposite of fast.

Slow.

That’s been the adjustment to this level for Harrison, a 5-foot-10, 198-pounder from Antioch, Tennessee. He hasn’t hit the ground running like many believed he would. He hasn’t been a deep threat in the pass game, hasn’t been a breakaway threat in the return game. Hasn't done much of what was expected, at least from those on the outside.

If there’s a reason Harrison was selected a second team All-American by Sporting News and USA Today in preseason, we’ve not seen it.

You know who’s fine with that four games in? Harrison. He knows it’s getting late early for someone who can see the end of his college career there in the distance, an end that comes closer with each passing day of practice, of film work, of games.

Time’s running short for Harrison to let loose and get loose and go fast, but he’s content to stay in the slow lane. The learning lane. Of his assignments. Of the playbook. Of the game plan. Of what it takes to be a success at this level.

Harrison could’ve stayed at Marshall and gone fast, run by guys and away from guys and into the end zone. He wanted to be at Notre Dame. Something pushed him to South Bend. The chance to be different. The chance to be better. The chance to chase greatness.

It’s that sentiment, not wondering why he doesn’t get a few more chances, that keeps Harrison in a good place on the practice field, in the film room and on the field come Saturdays. He's part of Notre Dame for more than just his to-date statistics – seven catches for 70 yards, four kickoffs for 99 yards – through four games.

“I was chosen to be here for a reason,” Harrison said. “That’s how I stay positive. I’m so dialed in, so I haven’t gotten down on myself. I haven’t gotten depressed.

“Just remind myself, God put you in this position for a reason. He wouldn’t choose this life for you for no reason.”

Harrison's mission is to find that reason. Find his niche in a deep but to date disappointing wide receivers room. Keep faith that the next chance he gets to return a kick, he’s going to find that seam. The next deep ball he gets he’s going to grab it and go. It hasn’t happened for Harrison, but it hasn’t come from a lack of effort.

“Knowing it’s my last go-round, you’ve got to take everything in,” Harrison said. “It’s been great.”

Great in a sense that Harrison better understands the game, better understands his role, better understands how to play wide receiver than when he first arrived. At his earlier stops, Harrison got by just by being fast. Here, the game’s more cerebral. It’s not just about speed, but smarts. About being steady and swift.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock could see the proverbial wheels spinning over Harrison’s helmet in spring and part of preseason camp. He wasn’t playing the game as much as he was thinking it, trying to get up to speed with the demands and the expectations of a place like Notre Dame.

They’re different than they were at Vanderbilt and at Marshall. They just are. What Harrison has been asked to do at Notre Dame is different than what he was asked to do at Marshall. At Vanderbilt. Probably at any point in his playing career.

“That’s been a little bit of an adjustment for him,” Denbrock said. “I see him kind of really getting into a comfort level with what we’re asking him to do, and I think that’s going to be good for us.”

Good would work for Harrison this week (3:30 p.m.; Peacock) against No. 17 Louisville (3-0) and the rest of the way. A bye week beckons after this weekend before the final seven regular-season games of Harrison’s career. What might it all look like in October and November?

“I don’t really look at the future so much,” he said. “I just stay dialed into what I have to do every day and my assignments and getting better. Hopefully, that leads me to where I want to be and help the team get to where we need to be.”

Fast or slow, it doesn’t matter much matter. For Harrison, it’s time for him to go and do something, time for one last four-letter word.

Play.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: This fast Notre Dame football player is OK with a slow approach toward securing success