In an era dominated by legendary quarterback and wide receiver duos, such as Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, Colorado tight end Michael Harrison made massive plays that helped bring his team on the path to success.
The unsung hero of an offense is almost always the tight end. Their workload is rivaled by very few on the gridiron. There are five possible tools that come with being a tight end; catching, ability to get open, run blocking, pass blocking, and athleticism. The best tight ends in high levels of football can be missing one, two or even three of those tools. It is one of the most demanding positions on the field physically and mentally and there are probably single digit examples of a perfect five-tool tight end. Yet when Colorado’s version of their unsung hero, Michael Harrison, was called on time and time again in Saturday night’s Rocky Mountain Showdown, the Buffs’ first string tight end never let them down once.
Michael Harrison is a junior and one of the few returning players from the last few seasons of disaster at Colorado. He was initially a walk-on and still remains a non-scholarship player. Throughout his previous three years at the team, he has seen very little work as a starter, or even rotational piece at tight end. In fact, until this season, he was still practicing as a wide receiver. In his freshman year with the team, he saw zero snaps of in-game action with the Buffs. In years two and three, he played 24 out of 24 games and had a large role on special teams. However, he only charted two catches for 12 yards in his second season of action. Now, following the third game of his fourth season with the team, he is the most talked about player (without the last name Sanders) on the team at a different position than the one he walked on to the team at: tight end.
Despite officially being the first string tight end, Harrison had not managed a large load of production in Colorado’s wins versus Texas Christian University and Nebraska within the Buff’s wide receiver-heavy offense. He combined for only four catches and thirty-seven yards in those two games. Subsequently, he didn’t even touch the field until the fifth drive of the Rocky Mountain Showdown as the Buffs exclusively ran trips and spread formations with 10 personnel, two or three receivers to a side with one running back and no tight ends. Nonetheless, Travis Hunter’s unfortunate injury in the first half contributed to the creation of opportunities for the recently converted tight end.
In Colorado’s third drive of the second half, Michael Harrison got his first looks of the game. He was targeted three times on this drive alone after not being targeted once all game, catching all targets for 28 yards, including one 19 yard shot on the left side of the field. This drive unfortunately ended in a missed field goal for the Buffaloes, but Harrison was beginning to break out.
Colorado’s next drive proved incredibly important. Following an interception by the Buffs’ Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig, Colorado’s offense desperately needed to answer with points as they were down 14-21. On 1st & 10 from Colorado State’s 20 yard line, Colorado State showed a single-high safety defensive look. Colorado once again lined up in a trips formation with Harrison as the number three receiver, closest to the offensive line, on the strong side of the formation. Harrison showed great understanding of how to play against a zone look such as this, and he attacked the linebacker who had lined up in the middle of the field before cutting away from his outside shoulder and over the top of the linebacker, knowing that he’d find the gap between the linebacker and the high safety over the top. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders stepped up into the pocket and fired a dart into the stomach of Harrison who came down with it at the Rams’ four yard line. It was at this point that everyone in Folsom Field had realized that Michael Harrison was here to play. Despite the effort, the Buffs’ drive stalled out after this point. Alejandro Mata took over field goal duties for Colorado following the miss on the last drive and he nailed a 20 yard attempt as the fourth quarter started.
The next drive saw no targets for Harrison as the Buffs settled for a 41 yard field goal to bring the deficit down to eight points. But the last, fateful drive saw Harrison come up big for Colorado.
Following a Rams punt, the Buffs started from their own two yard line with just two minutes and six seconds remaining in the game while being down eight points. The task seemed insurmountable. After a short run of two yards from Dylan Edwards, Sanders once again looked Harrison’s way for an 11 yard completion to keep the drive moving. Following receiver Jimmy Horn Jr’s outstanding 45 yard touchdown, the Buffs had one play left to tie and extend the game. From the Rams’ two yard line. Harrison lined up on the right side of the offensive line as Edwards lined up in the backfield on the left of Sanders. The ball was snapped and Sanders began to put the ball into Edwards’ torso for a handoff to the right. Harrison subsequently started running out wide towards Colorado State cornerback Dom Jones. However, on what appears to have been an RPO, run-pass option, Harrison darted back inside and over the top of safety Jack Howell and linebacker Justin Sanchez who both ran across the middle and crashed down to attack the run. Sanders then pulled the ball from Edwards’ grasp and fired it to his tight end. Harrison came down with it and Folsom Field erupted as Colorado was one step closer to completing an incredible comeback.
Unfortunately for the Buffs, the work was not done yet. On the first drive of overtime, Colorado elected to keep the ball to attempt to score first. Sanders was the victim of multiple defensive penalties on this drive, one of which was a targeting penalty by CSU defensive end Mohamed Kamara. It culminated in the Buffs moving up to the Rams’ six yard line, looking to set the tone.
Colorado lined up in a five wide set with Harrison lined up as a receiver just outside the right tackle. The Rams lined up in a four-downed linemen defensive set, but defensive tackle Grady Kelly dropped back into a quarterback spy, simply watching and following Sanders rather than rushing him as to not allow Sanders to keep it himself and easily take it into the end zone.. With only three pass-rushers and the one defensive tackle taking up the direct middle of the play, Sanders was then forced to somehow dissect a defense of seven defenders' pass coverage compared to his five route runners. But once again, Michael Harrison was there to alleviate the pressure. Initially running what looked to be an option route, Harrison quickly stopped after a few steps and darted inside as the primary option had put him directly behind defensive back Ayden Hector. But after recognizing that Sanders was flushed out right and needed options on that side of the field, Harrison excellently demonstrated his understanding of playing in space and fixing broken plays. He came back across the middle to make himself available for his quarterback in need while Sanders again looked his way and fired a laser to Harrison who displayed his confidence in his hands while he snatched the ball out of the air to give Colorado their first touchdown of overtime.
After the Rams answered with a touchdown of their own, the Buffs once again came out onto the field with the fate of the game in their hands. If they scored, all they had to do was get one more defensive stop.
After a big catch from receiver Xavier Weaver that was followed by an untimely holding penalty by right tackle Savion Washington, Colorado lined up from the 18 yard line on the right hash. With Michael Harrison lined up at tight end on the left, Sanders called for Horn Jr. to come in motion from the slot on the right, sprinting across to the other side as the ball was snapped while he passed by. Following the snap, Sanders and the offensive line faked a sprint out to the right with Horn continuing on into the flat on the left and Edwards doing the same on the right from the backfield. Harrison ran through CSU defensive end Mukendi Wa-Kalonji to slow him down while he rushed as Harrison took a shot out of the Rams’ playbook and ran a crossing route of his own. However, without ever looking back at his quarterback, Harrison planted his foot in the dirt and turned back inside and upfield as nobody was near him. Sanders fired it to Harrison who predictably caught the ball and walked into the end zone untouched to put Colorado back into the lead. This gave Harrison his second touchdown of the night on back to back drives for the Buffs as he capped off a seven target, seven catch night for 76 yards and the previously mentioned two touchdowns.
Xavier Weaver caught the two-point conversion before safety Trevor Woods would ice the game with an interception in the end zone on the ensuing Colorado State drive. The Buffs won one of the most entertaining games in recent college football history, and it couldn’t have been done without the major contributions of the previously ignored first string tight end, Michael Harrison. In his own words “I’m just so happy. I’m just so happy right now.”
Comentários