’25 DE hasn’t played since his sophomore year, hasn’t lost a single step…
His name is Demarkese Harris. We just refer to him as “Kese.” Harris is a 6’0,” 210-pound upfield, explosion of fury, bent on destruction from the DE slot for the 6A Colonels from Christian County. He stepped away from football a year ago, but is back. “Kese” has been eye-poppingly good in the preseason leading up to the coming opener against Warren East in the J Allen Builders Bowl in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Harris is fast, active, explosive, strong and plays with excellent leverage and technique. His burst off the edge rocks tackles back on their heels and puts them in a distinct disadvantage. This kid will have a monster season. If he isn’t in the opening scouting report, he will be prominently featured by the second game and every game thereafter.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
“Demarkese” is the name his momma gave him. “Kese” is the one we all call him in the football world and around the offices of Kentucky Prep Gridiron. Offensive tackles around western Kentucky might consider calling him, “Mr. Harris.”
Kese Harris is making a point everywhere he has appeared in the run up to the ’24 season. This kid has appeared “unblock-able.” To quote the Knights of the Round Table in Monty Pythons’ movie spoof, Holy Grail: Run Away!
We were able to interview Defensive Coordinator, Tony McCombs about his protégé. McCombs was somewhat gushing. “Kese is a hard-charger with a very powerful leg kick, a very quick get-off. Kese is hard for a high schooler to have to block. [Kese is] by you before you know it.”
[Kese] is by you before you realize
Tony “Cheese” McCombs
“Kese has brought an intensity and energy we have frankly needed in the lead up to the coming season,” head coach, Ethan Atchley, has told our magazine. “Kese is a guy on whom we will count for big plays, for game changing plays.”
Right here is where we generally input data from last season. This is where we generally try to impress the reader with the prospect’s track record and former statistics.
We won’t be doing this here, however. Kese didn’t play in ’23 and in ’22, when he did play, the team didn’t input any defensive data from its season.
However, there are things about this prospect we can and will tell you. A lack of stats has never stopped any reporter, least of all this one.
We’re out there. We see things with our own eyes statistics can’t (and often don’t) relate.
We can tell you Kese was on the roster in ’22. We can tell you he was slotted to play DE, where he will play this year. We can’t really tell you what (if anything) he contributed to a 2-9 ball club who would finish the next season with an identical record, but under a different head coach (Blake Ladson in ’22, Zach Self in ’23).
Kese has brought an intensity and energy…we have needed
Head Football Coach, Ethan Atchley, CCHS
Harris will play his senior year under Ethan Atchley. Coach Atchley is a proven commodity, having experienced coaching successes, building programs, at both 2A, Lexington Christian, and 6A, Bullitt East, prior to accepting the Colonel position.
Kory Combs
We have seen, first hand, that Harris has thrived given this additional chance. Harris has played in the preseason, to date, like a man given a new lease on life. Harris appears to be a man not willing to waste what amounts to an exceptional opportunity.
Harris is 6’0,” and weighs between 200 and 210. He has a super-quick burst and get-off and uses his hands and technique well to free himself from lineal entanglements.
Harris has been working out with former three-time, first-team All-Stater, and present Centre Colonel, William Long (NG). Long, certainly no stranger to this forum, has been interning on the Colonel staff this summer. William had this to say about the rising star:
“Harris is a coach’s dream. He brings a hard-core edge that is contagious and lends itself to his teammates trying to match his effort and energy.”
Long went on to tell KPGFootball, “With the strides Harris has made in the weight room this off-season, coupled with the fundamentals he is learning from Coach [Tony] McCombs, I look forward to watching him have a monster senior season.”
[Harris] brings a hard-core edge that is contagious and lends itself to his teammates trying to match his effort and energy
William Long, NG, Centre College Colonels, Intern CCHS FB
We were able to catch up with Head Football Coach, Chris Price, from Madisonville, North-Hopkins. The Maroons annually boast some of the finest talent in the western-Kentucky area and routinely challenge for supremacy on the western end of the commonwealth.
The Maroons hosted the Colonels in a Sevens (7 on 7) match which had a big on big component. During the big on big’s session, the lines of scrimmage were matched up in one on one, combine type competition. Price was pretty impressed with what he saw from the rising senior DE.
Price told KPGFootball, “Kese Harris was an absolute nightmare for us to block. He is physical and knows how to play with leverage.”
Price went on to comment, “As a football player, I would play with him any day. He will definitely make the Colonels program better.”
Price concluded, “Off the field, Harris asked all the right questions and wanted to maximize his abilities. Harris asked for advice on ways he could do better; as a coach, you have to love that kind of passion for the game.”
Price has guided his Maroons to a 15-8 record over the past two (2) seasons. This is a guy whose opinion is prized as coming from someone who would know.
Harris asked all the right questions…as a coach, you have to love that kind of passion…
Chris Price, Madisonville North-Hopkins, HFC
That brings us to the “final analysis.” Articles, features, they move in a direction from Alpha to Omega. This is the feature’s “Omega.” This is the feature’s crescendo.
People daily read “KPGFootball” because we know things and we know these things before the other guys. We know these things because we are out there.
We are out there, even when you don’t know we’re out there. We are watching your practices. We are taking notes at your games. We are taking notes at your scrimmages.
We have a network covering high school football in Kentucky you can’t possibly fathom. It is vast. It is omnipresent.
There may not be anyone else around 6A, District 1, discussing Kese Harris and what their team might have to do to stop him. We’re stridently suggesting to the reader the following: That is all about to drastically change.
Watch and see!
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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