Versatile Razorback legacy E’Marion Harris carving own path

The right side of the Arkansas offensive line has been a hot topic of conversation since spring practice and that talk has continued throughout fall camp.

The left side is all but set with Georgia Tech transfer Corey Robinson II at tackle, Fernando Carmona Jr. at guard after sliding over from left tackle, plus add in UCF transfer Caden Kitler at center.

Now in his fourth season with the Hogs, Little Rock native and Razorback legacy E’Marion Harris can play four positions up front – guard and tackle spots on both sides – but has primarily been focusing on right tackle.

“All summer it was right tackle, right guard, left tackle,” Arkansas offensive line coach Eric Mateos said on Thursday regarding the 6-foot-7, 313-pound Harris’ reps. “We didn’t do any left guard reps in the summer, but him and Marcus Dumervil spent a lot of their summers doing a lot of different positions.

We wanted to create that versatility, the habits, get the stance right, you know, you want to try and get that done in the summer so if you do have to make a change in season, it doesn’t feel like you’re eating left handed. I feel like we’re in a good place with his versatility. He’ll be ready if we need to, but right now we’re kind of leaving him there at that right tackle spot.”

Tenured Razorback amongst mix of veterans and youth

While there are a multitude of projected starters along the offensive line who have a lot of games under their belt such as the aforementioned Robinson, Carmona and Kitler, there are also a host of younger players in the mix to start such as guard Kobe Branham and tackle Shaq McRoy, a transfer from Oregon.

In terms of Arkansas tenure amongst likely projected starters, Harris has been on campus the longest as he came to The Hill as a consensus four-star early enrollee in January of 2022.

Harris teetered around the 300-pound mark last season, then dropped some weight, and is now back over 300.

“I’m like 311-315 right now,” Harris said during a press conference on Thursday. “I feel like when I had to lose weight, I feel like I lost it the wrong way. I didn’t do what I needed to do to actually lose the weight, but now that I got my weight back, I feel a lot more confident, like, my confidence is better, playing better and stuff like that.”

Harris started all 13 games for the Hogs last fall, blocking for an offense that finished Top 10 nationally in average total yards per game (459.5), but struggles both individually for Harris (20 pressures surrendered through the final six games) and the line as a whole were evident at times.

Quarterback Taylen Green was sacked 32 times, while the Hogs surrendered 36 overall (2.77 per game).

For Harris, it was more about getting back to the basics and continuing to soak in the detailed offensive ran by offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

“This offseason, I was just focusing on getting my weight back, getting stronger, and just learning the offense better,” Harris said. “This is my second year in the offense, and just learning things that the o-linemen normally don’t learn in the offense, stuff like that.”

E’Marion Harris carving own path

Harris’ father – Elliott Harris, who is a Marianna native – played on the opposite side of the trenches on defense under Houston Nutt from 2000-2004.

It did not take long to figure out the younger Harris would also have the opportunity to play big time college football, as he earned his first high school varsity start as a 14-year-old freshman at Joe T. Robinson against Springdale. At a young age, he was encouraged by his father to write his own story.

“It’s definitely been a crazy journey,” Harris said. “My pops always told me just because he came here, [doesn’t] mean that I had to come here because it’s my path, my life. I chose to come here because it felt like home. Pittman just gave me everything I wanted in college, so I just liked it, and the journey’s just been amazing.”

Harris and the Razorbacks return to the field for practice seven of fall camp on Friday. Visit our homepage for more Razorback coverage and follow HawgBeat for in-depth coverage throughout fall camp. Subscribe to HawgBeat right now for $1 and also receive a from year of The Athletic for new members.

More HawgBeat Football Coverage