Auburn football: What took Jalen Harris so long to leave program?

Auburn football tight end Jalen Harris announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he is leaving the program.

The junior has one reception this season for 12 yards — it came in the loss to LSU — and that pushed his three-season total to four receptions for 33 yards and two touchdowns.

Probably not the type of numbers Harris envisioned when he signed with the Auburn football program. He’s been used mostly in a blocking role.

Harris graduated last month and will redshirt this season so he can be a graduate transfer and play immediately at another school in 2019.

Harris is the fourth Auburn football player to leave the team this season, joining punter Aidan Marshall, defensive back John Broussard and offensive lineman Tyler Carr, all backups.

Good for Harris. He’s been a real trooper, getting the job done when he was called on, doing dirty work on the edges. He said all the right things in his Twitter message.

But we have a question: What took you so long?

That’s not a dig at Harris. We wish him the best wherever he ends up next season and hope he catches dozens of passes for hundreds of yards and multiple touchdowns.

But as a tight end in this offense, you’re resigning yourself to putting a hand in the dirt, blocking defensive ends, linebacker, safeties — things to free up your teammates. Auburn simply does not incorporate the tight end much, if at all, into the offense.

Here’s how many receptions the tight end has since Malzahn arrived:

2018: 2 (Harris, John Samuel Shenker)
2017: 1 (Harris)
2016: 2 (Harris)
2015: 0
2014: 13 (C.J. Uzomah 11, Brandon Fulse 2)
2013: 12 (Uzomah 11, Fulse 1)

It should be noted that Uzomah has collected 40 receptions and two touchdowns with the Cincinnati Bengals since arriving in the NFL in 2015.

Also, Sal Cannella is listed as a tight end on the Auburn football roster, but he isn’t lining up as a tight end.

Yes, Auburn has thrown the ball more to H-back Chandler Cox (seven receptions this year, eight in 2017), but he’s coming out of the backfield, not lining up as a traditional tight end.

So while it’s understandable that Carr, Broussard and Marshall left the program. They were backups and had been passed up on the depth chart by younger (or in Marshall’s case, a newer punter, Arryn Siposs).

Harris was getting playing time. But at some point, it’s like what Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park: “Eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?”

Harris had to be wondering: “Eventually you do plan to throw the ball to the guy you signed to catch the ball, right?”

Apparently not.

That brings us back to the question of why it took Harris so long.

The timing is perfect for him. He doesn’t have to burn a year of eligibility. He’s graduated (good work, Jalen). You and everyone around Auburn should wish Harris nothing but the best of luck (and there’s no indication that isn’t the case).

Will this be a bad sign for Auburn tight ends and tight end recruits?

Not necessarily.

Shenker is the only tight end remaining on scholarship if you don’t count Cannella toward the tight end allotment. Auburn has two tight ends committed for the 2019 recruiting class in Tyler Fromm and Luke Deal. Auburn is high on both players and really went after both of them. It’s unlikely they recruited those two just to come to Auburn and block.

Could that signal a shift in how Auburn uses the tight end in the future?

It’s possible. We’ll have to wait and see.