Justin Harrington, the star-crossed player for the Sooners, has fluctuated between the roster and the training room, but it looks like he’s opted to go again.
Justin Harrington’s relationship with Oklahoma has been complicated, On Friday, it apparently ended, According to a report from On3 and Sooner Scoop, Harrington intends to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal. The report was later confirmed by OU Insider and SI Sooners.
Harrington, a former junior college All-American who is a seventh-year senior from Raleigh, North Carolina, has played a variety of positions for several coordinators and position coaches for the majority of his 4 1/2 seasons at OU, The 6-foot-3, 219-pound Harrington will now have the opportunity to play his last college game someplace else.
Harrington is the first player who has played a large amount of his career and had been legitimately looking for a successful 2024 to enter the portal this spring. He is also the fourth Sooner and the third linebacker to do so. Thus far this spring, tight end Hayden Bray, linebacker Shane Whitter, and linebacker Reed DeQuaise have all left. Bray and DeQuaise were mere props.
Harrington arrived at Norman in 2020, playing safety at first. He was a juco All-American at Bakersfield College in California, where he gained traction during spring practice. Harrington was coached by Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch.
However, the OU medical staff discovered that same spring that he had sustained a serious knee injury while still a junior in college. As he recovered from the injury, he played as a redshirt that season.
Harrington participated in games at both safety and corner during the autumn of 2021, however he only played in four games before to logging onto the transfer site.
Before the 2022 season, Harrington worked out a deal with Brent Venables to bring him back to the team as a walk-on. Moving from safety to Venables’ “cheetah” linebacker position, he produced a career-high 23 tackles in 13 games in 2022 along with one interception and two passes defensed.
When Harrington sustained a season-ending injury in just the second game of 2023, he was seeing greater playing time.
Harrington’s eighth and last season was in doubt until the NCAA gave him a medical hardship waiver earlier this spring, allowing him to continue playing. This was because of his numerous injuries.
In 2022, Harrington thanked Venables for giving him the chance to come back, and Venables conveyed his gratitude to Harrington for being prepared to go to any lengths to return.
“Well, I asked him to be about the work and come back with humility and expect nothing,” Venables remarked. I encouraged him to gain his colleagues’ respect and trust in this manner. And he has carried it out. You know, he went above and beyond in that area, Harrington said the meeting with Venables was “100 percent” humbling.
Harrington remarked, “I would say it was a real selfless moment.” It was, in my opinion, the least arrogant. I had to swallow all of my pride. Although football is what I do, I didn’t feel like it was who I am. And I think I want to pursue this for a very long time. Because of this, I would like to return here, even if several coaches from other colleges have already contacted. Again, if this is the kind of football you play, there really isn’t anywhere else you can go. You want to surround yourself (with) people who are like this. You can’t really find that around.”
Harrington stated, “It really wasn’t about football.” He seemed interested in learning more about my personal life, in my opinion. He mentioned to me, among other things, that even though I’m 22 years old, I still make snap decisions. And that’s kind of what we discussed—making snap decisions and the idea that everyone deserves grace and another opportunity.
It seemed more like seizing the chance, in my opinion. It was living in the now, according to Harrington. We discuss living in the now and savoring it. I came running out here with a breath of fresh air as soon as I had the chance. I had the age of a five-year-old. I enjoy spending every day out here. I enjoy returning to the locker room each day.
The spring transfer portal opened on April 16, The Sooners play their annual spring game on Saturday in a planned 2:30 p.m. start.