De'Vante Harris offers former player perspective on A&M's secondary

A four-year starter in Aggieland, former Texas A&M corner De'Vante Harris is now a DB coach at Forney High School. Harris joined Wednesday's edition of TexAgs Live to catch up, chatting about his time rocking Maroon & White, Mike Elko's second year and more.

Key notes from De'Vante Harris interview

• I’m a coach at Forney High School. I coach the defensive backs. I'm going on my second year, and coaching track and field as well as my son's little league football team.
   
• I know Kelvion Riggins. He’s my dog. He is a great kid, a high-energy kid, very magnetic as far as personality goes and made a lot of plays relying on his instincts. He was a leader of our defense for sure.
   
• I’m from Mesquite, Texas. I’ve always wanted to go to A&M. My first ever college game was when they played Oklahoma when Adrian Peterson was playing. It’s in my blood, man. My dad played receiver up there. My uncle played too. May he rest in peace, Darren Lewis.
   
• I came out of high school as an athlete playing wide receiver and defensive back. I was committed to Oklahoma up until the Under Armour All-American game, then as soon as Kevin Sumlin got in office, he offered. I committed the next day.
   
• There were a lot of people I knew, like Matt Davis and Trey Williams. I was keeping up with them through social media, and we had a lot of Dallas guys go down there. When I stepped on campus for a visit, it felt like I was home. Any other official visit I went on was like, “Oh, I'm just going to another school.” When I stepped in Aggieland, it was like, “Oh, I'm home. I can’t leave now.”
   
• I had butterflies at my first start, man. I was skinny. I started my first game against Florida at like 158 pounds. I was tiny. I knew the end goal, though. I wanted to build a legacy, and go to the next level. I took it head-on by saying, “Hey, I’m going to do the best and be the best version of myself.”
   
• I was just talking to Jake Spavital about the 2012 team. Once we got in pads, they were so competitive. It was game day in practice. It doesn’t matter what drill. It's us vs. them. When we're out there on the field, it is compete, compete, compete. With us having hard practices, it made the games easier.
   
• That’s really what it was. Once I committed to A&M, my friends were like, “Oh, y’all are going to get killed.” What it was was when we got in the SEC, it was a lot of power back, and a lot of downhill running. Spavital and Johnny Manziel brought that spread, where we're going to make sure that you’re in shape. We brought a different style to the SEC, and it took them a year to get used to it.
   
• Going up against Ryan Swope and Mike Evans made me better because they were great, fast and big. It gave me the confidence to say, “OK, if I can guard these guys, it doesn’t matter who’s lined up in front of me.” Just little things and tricks coming from the receiver. Learning who I can be physical with, who I can run with, stuff like that.
   
• It allowed me to get into my film. It allowed me to go through the mental aspect of it. I sat down and was like, “OK, I sat with my defensive coach at the time and learned how to watch film. A lot of young kids just cut through the film, going through first and second down, but it allowed me to attack the mental aspect of it. When I came back, I added my physical with my mental ability, so I feel like I had a decent year that year.
   
• My dad, Rod Harris, was highly competitive. Even at a young age, he talked to me like a grown man. Once I was off the field, I could be a kid, but on the field, I was a pro. I tell my kids the same thing. Off the field, be a kid and have fun, but once you step in between those white lines, I say, “Be a pro.” He’s a very disciplined and scheduled guy who kept me accountable in certain things. Growing up with a father figure like that was very beneficial.
   
• I liked playing in the NFL. Man, but it wasn’t what it seemed. Once you watch the pros, you only know 48 minutes of their life. You don’t know the other six days what they're doing outside of that.
   
• At the beginning of my third year, I started to figure out that you’re a football player all the time, and there are no off days. I feel that helped me in what I'm doing now, holding my students accountable. I was blessed to play with Drew Brees. You know the old saying of “First one in, last one out.” Brees was that guy. Seeing the work he was putting in behind the scenes, I think that helped me now as a 31-year-old man. You have to be good at the things people don’t see.
   
• I think A&M’s defense is going to be good. I think the game is won in the trenches. If we, as the secondary, don’t have to cover for a while, which I figure we won't, and we're on top of our technique, we'll be good. Like Will Lee III, he is a great player. I can tell he’s vocal, and the other players are kind of rallying behind him. I like his swag of talking that noise, but also back it up. As long as we hold up against the run, I think the DBs will be OK.
   
• Cocky is the right word. You have to be humbly be cocky. On the field, you have to think you’re the best at all time, but you have to have a level head. You have to have a short memory, too, though. You’ll be scored on from time to time, but you have to be able to bounce back and tell the receiver to do it again. You have to be able to put it behind you and focus on the next play.
   
• When Mike Elko came out to the Coaches Night in Dallas, I got to hear him speak. I believe in the message he spoke. He knows what he wants, and I think the team knows what he wants. I think the team understands he’s a great leader and will do anything he asks of them. I think we'll be good, but we can’t do the A&M thing where we start strong and then we tail it off at the end. We have to start fast and finish strong. Both have to happen.