Why national football player of the year Kendre Harrison transferred to Providence Day

Last weekend, Kendre Harrison, the reigning MaxPreps national high school athlete of the year, was on a plane, heading to visit the University of Oregon, and he was trying to write a goodbye note to his friends in Reidsville.

Reidsville, N.C., is a town of 15,000 just outside Greensboro. The football team at Reidsville High School has won 23 state titles, including one last December, and Harrison is already on the Mount Rushmore of all the athletes who’ve ever come through the town.

That’s why, on the plane, he was having a hard time tapping a note into his iPhone. Harrison, a 6-foot-7, 245-pound junior, had talked about transferring for some time now, about wanting to face better competition, to get the college-level coaching and the college-level preparation that elite prospects crave.

But it really hit him, about 40,000 feet in the air, that he was about to leave his hometown for national power Providence Day, about two hours away in Charlotte — and that this was actually goodbye.

“I told my friends, like, months ago,” Harrison said. “I told them, like, ‘I think I’m leaving.’ I didn’t tell them where because I didn’t know where. I just knew I wasn’t going to be in Reidsville. So I was sitting on the plane writing this big paragraph and I was crying, like, I’m really going to leave my friends. I was just telling them I love them and I was always going to support them.”

A few days later, Harrison made the transfer public, posting a graphic on his Instagram and X social media pages. The posts were viewed tens of thousands of times and started immediate discussion in high school and college recruiting circles.

Harrison has offers from all the major colleges you might expect, from Alabama to Michigan to Notre Dame, to in-state powers such as North Carolina and N.C. State. In basketball, Harrison has a blue-blood offer from North Carolina as well as from schools including Florida State, N.C. State, Texas A&M and Wake Forest.

ESPN recently ranked him the No. 10 high school football player in America, period, regardless of what grade a prospect was in or what position he played.

Harrison was the No. 1 tight end on the list, and ESPN compared him to former NFL great Tony Gonzalez, saying Harrison “has elite length ... with strong hands and great body control, allowing to him to present an exceptional catch radius.”

ESPN believes Harrison — also a top-flight national basketball recruit — can become one of the best tight ends tracked in the 18 years the network has done national rankings. And there was only one N.C. player ranked ahead of Harrison in ESPN’s top 25 player rankings for 2024.

Providence Day’s David Sanders, an offensive tackle, is No. 6 nationally, regardless of grade or position. And now, Sanders and Harrison are about to join up on a Chargers team that will feature two other ESPN top 125 players: lineman Leo Delaney (No. 63 in the junior class) and receiver Gordon Sellars (No. 117 in the junior class).

“That’s why I’m here,” Harrison said. “I know Providence Day is a family, man. They do everything as a family, and coach (Chad) Grier is a great coach who is always going to push you. And everybody wants to be great.

“I do, too.”

‘A little fat dude with glasses’

Growing up in Reidsville, Harrison said with a big smile, he was “a little fat dark-skinned dude with glasses.”

He was 5-foot-3.

Until COVID hit.

In seventh grade, Harrison said, he grew nearly a foot. Life changed pretty fast.

“Before then,” Harrison said, “I was one of these kids who played the (video) game. I was like, ‘Aw man, I ain’t doing nothing (with sports).’ I played football and basketball, but I wasn’t good. I was sitting on the bench.”

But at 6-3, he started training and started playing AAU basketball against some of the best athletes his age in the nation. And he kept growing, and he kept getting better.

“I started training and magically everything started coming to life,” he said.

Wake Forest gave him his first football offer in June 2021, when he was in middle school.

Two years later, Harrison put up one of the best seasons any N.C. athlete has ever had.

The unforgettable year

As a sophomore at Reidsville in the 2023-24 school year, Harrison helped lead the school to NCHSAA 2A state championships in basketball and football.

Playing tight end, Harrison caught 62 passes for 940 yards and 16 touchdowns on offense. He had 76 tackles and nine sacks on defense.

In basketball, he averaged 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks.

“A lot of people have compared him to Julius Peppers,” said N.C. basketball recruiting analyst Rick Lewis of Phenom Hoops, “and I’m not so sure that, at the same point and time, that Kendre is not a much better basketball player than Julius was at the same point of his high school career. But what’s impressive is the way he conducts himself for all the success he’s had. He’s still polite, humble and very well-spoken. You don’t see that in a lot of young kids. He’s a winner. He’s impressive.”

A few months after the season, a coach at Reidsville High called Harrison into his classroom. He told Harrison that he was in the running for MaxPreps’ national male athlete of the year.

“I heard big names like (Carrollton, GA, quarterback) Julian Lewis, and people like that,” Harrison said. “I was like, ‘Oh man, they’re probably going to win.’ Then a couple hours later, they told me I won. I was like, ‘Whoa! Are you for real!?!’ The next day, they came and took pictures and it all went over social media. It’s just a blessing, man.”

‘A Reidsville kid for life’

Reidsville High football coach Erik Teague graduated from the school in 2007. He played for his father, the legendary Jimmy Teague, a guy who won eight state titles for the Rams. Erik Teague, who was an assistant coach for his father, took over the head job when Jimmy Teague retired after the 2022 season.

Erik Teague’s first team beat Clinton 28-18 last December to win the state title. Harrison had a monster game, catching five passes for 95 yards and two scores and getting a sack on defense. Three months later, in the 2A basketball finals, Harrison had 19 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks in a 78-77 overtime win against Farmville Central.

Nobody knew those would be the last high school football and basketball games he would play at the school.

“Even with all the success we’ve had at the 2A level, it’s always rare to get a kid that has all the physical attributes that big-time colleges are looking for,” Teague said. “We’ve always had good high school athletes, but they don’t match to the size colleges are looking for. We’re obviously sad to see him go, but I think the overall feeling from everybody in Reidsville is: We’re a close-knit community and we’re going to pull for people from Reidsville no matter where they go. Kendre grew up in Reidsville, and he will be a Reidsville kid for life.”

Teague said that with all the recruiting attention Harrison had, in a small town not used to it, he had to mature quickly.

Harrison recently named his top six colleges. He’s expected to play football but may try to also play basketball. His final six: Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Oregon, Penn State and Tennessee.

“Not a lot of freshmen have to deal with 20 to 30 college coaches showing up to see him, and being put on that type of platform,” Teague said. “I think he’s grown up a lot through two years of the recruiting process he’s been through.”

NIL not a factor in leaving

At Providence Day, Harrison could profit from his Name, Image and Likeness rights. At Reidsville, he could not. The N.C. State Board of Education voted against allowing NIL earlier this year for public school athletes. It may revisit its decision next month.

But getting an NIL didn’t factor into Harrison coming to Charlotte.

“People are like, ‘Yeah, you went for NIL,’” Harrison said. “I have no NIL. I just came off the strength of me trying to get better.”

Harrison said that when he decided to transfer, he wanted to find a strong program, with a good coach, a tough schedule and plenty of talent to face off with each day.

He said he had considered Sierra Canyon in California and Columbus High School in Florida, but he really wanted to stay close to home, close to his mother, Toya Hogue, whom he calls his best friend.

Harrison knew some of the Providence Day kids from college camps and started asking a former Providence Day star, Jordan Shipp, about going to school there.

Now a freshman at North Carolina, Shipp gave Harrison a detailed rundown.

“He said the academics are good and he said it got him prepared for college,” Harrison said. “And I wanted to stay close to home. I felt like this was going to be a better opportunity for me. Better coaching, competition, workouts, going against David Sanders and (Power 5 recruit) Leo (Delaney) every day in practice. I felt like it was the right decision.”

What’s the future hold?

Providence Day coach Chad Grier said he’d heard rumors of Harrison transferring for weeks, but never let himself consider how he would use him or even watch his film until the prospect was on campus.

Last week, before he was officially enrolled, Harrison started coming to the Chargers’ practices to observe. On the first day, it rained hard. Grier was surprised that Harrison never moved, never sought cover.

He just stood there and watched.

Later, when the team went into the weight room, a player asked for water. Before Grier could grab a bottle, Harrison had beaten him to it.

“From that point forward,” Grier said, “he was carrying a cart of Gatorade bottles, and being a waterboy.”

Grier said that in just a few days Harrison became a beloved teammate, saying he’s always got his arm around a player or two, always has a big smile on his face.

“My take on him is he’s a genuinely kind-hearted, good kid,” Grier said. “His humility, for who he is, is exceptional. And I think Kendre can be whatever Kendre chooses to be. He’s kind of like David Sanders. You asked me what made David special. God made him special, and (Sanders) has maximized what God gave him. I think Kendre has some exceptional gifts, too, and that’s what he’s trying to do now, to maximize what God gave him.”