With several seniors in the current secondary, UCF is turning to the junior college ranks as they look to fill out their remaining 2021 recruiting class.
On Monday night, Trevion Shadrick-Harris, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound cornerback from Sierra College in California, announced his commitment to the Knights. Just a day earlier, safety Chad Brown, who attends Fresno (Calif.) Community College, announced his pledge.
Shadrick-Harris, who is from Tracy, Calif., says UCF reached out in March and extended an offer at that time.
"Ever since then I've been building a relationship with Coach (Jacob) Bronowski and Coach (Willie) Martinez," Shadrick-Harris said. "As time went along, they really didn't push me like other schools did. They never tried to push me to commit. UCF always kept it business oriented. They approached me like a man. They gave me the rundown from the beginning. They made me feel real comfortable. They gave me time to make my decision because I'm be coming all the way across the country from California.
"I just felt like I had a great relationship with those guys. Great dudes over there. It feels like a family. Every time I talked to them, it felt like a family, even though all the communication has been virtual. They were transparent and honest about everything. Over time, Coach (Josh) Heupel came into play and I built a good relationship with him too and so did my mom."
During the summer, Shadrick-Harris had a "virtual visit" but he was holding out hope he could possibly take a real visit this fall. That won't be happening as the NCAA recently extended the dead period through the end of the year.
"UCF was my best virtual visit," Shadrick-Harris said. "They put everything on the table. I couldn't say no."
The decision to commit was actually made early last week.
"I weighed all my options and slept on it," Shadrick-Harris said. "I woke up and was still comfortable with the decision. I called Coach Bronowski and once I told him I was coming he lit up. He went to get the other coaches. They got Coach Martinez out of a defensive meeting. He had a conversation with me, told me how happy he was. Then I talked to Coach Heup and had a great conversation about the future."
As a freshman at Sierra College in 2019, Shadrick-Harris grabbed four interceptions including two that went for pick sixes.
"From the jump, UCF said they liked the energy I play with," Shadrick-Harris said. "They like my playing style. I play long and have range. That's one of the words Coach Martinez told me on the phone early in the process. That was a big point of emphasis. They also said they really liked my character. That played a big role too."
He was also strongly considering a couple schools that were closer to home, Fresno State and UC Davis, where he has a cousin currently on the team. Other schools that were involved included Oregon, TCU, South Carolina, ECU and SMU.
An injury early in his high school career led to a period when he didn't focus on his academics, so he wasn't qualified for Division I schools. He did have a Division III offer from Concordia College in Minnesota, though opted to go the junior college route in hopes to eventually go D1.
With no fall junior college football season, Shadrick-Harris is now focused on finishing his AA degree (his Sierra College classes are all virtual) and enrolling at UCF in January. Even with no official workouts, he's doing plenty to stay in shape.
"My schedule from 4 in the morning to 10 o'clock, I'm working at UPS," Shadrick-Harris said. "I'm in the warehouse, loading up the trailers. So that's my early morning. From there, I go home, shower up after work with everything going on, then go work out. I go to a friend's house to get a good lift in. We've been having fires recently so the air quality is bad to be outside, so I've been doing what I can on the treadmill. Before the fires, I'd head to a local field here in Tracy, running around and doing some position work."
As he was closing in on a decision, Shadrick-Harris made sure to catch UCF on TV these past few weeks.
"I was just looking at the playing style," he said. "I was evaluating things like I was a scout. When I watch football, I don't watch it like a game. It's a business opportunity for me. I wanted to see how the defense played, what the DBs were doing, stuff like that. That helped me make my decision too."
UCF is looking for Shadrick-Harris to compete right away at cornerback. He'll have three years of eligibility remaining.
"They said they don't want to recruit backups," Shadrick-Harris said. "Me being a junior college guy, they expect me to come in and really grind. There's obviously guys already there and some really good talent. They're expecting me to come in and compete. As for getting playing time, that's all on me."
