Kentucky’s defensive front has a new kind of presence this season, and Jamarrion “Chops” Harkless fits the part the moment he walks onto the field.
At 6-foot-3 and 345 pounds, the Frederick Douglass High School product looks every bit the nose tackle Jay Bateman says he should be. That matters in a league where Kentucky has too often been beaten before the game even started, at least in appearance, when SEC opponents came out for warmups looking bigger, stronger and deeper.
“Chops, when you say nose guard, that is what it is supposed to look like,” Bateman said.
Harkless arrived back in Lexington after a winding path that started at Purdue. He was recruited there by Jeff Brohm, who left for Louisville before Harkless played his first game. Ryan Walters then went 5-19 over two seasons before Barry Odom took over and won only two games last year, a stretch that helped push Harkless back home.
He had originally been recruited by Mark Stoops and his staff at Kentucky, but at that point he wanted to leave the comfort zone of Lexington.
Now he’s back with bigger goals than simply getting to a bowl game.
“We’re trying to take Kentucky where Kentucky’s never been. With the guys we got in, the talent, I think we can do that for sure,” he said.
The adjustment has included taking hard coaching from defensive line coach Anwar Stewart, something Harkless says is different from what he has known before.
“I’ve always had old-style, laid-back type of D-line coaches. He brings that energy as soon as he steps in, and he’s probably roasting somebody,” Harkless said.
“It’s amazing having a D-line coach like that. It makes you want to pour your energy out, too.”
If that energy translates the way Kentucky hopes, Harkless could become a real problem for SEC running games. And for him, doing it at home would carry its own weight.
“Being back home and being able to do something like that would be a feeling - I don’t know. That would be crazy,” he said.
After years of watching wins come few and far between, that kind of crazy would be a welcome change.
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