Chester’s Daron Harris looks to bring his versatility on the gridiron to Temple

When Daron Harris first began playing football, he was just 7 years old. He and his twin brother, Jalen, started together after their first coach persuaded their mother to let them play.

Daron fell in love with the sport. First he was put at right tackle, but that experiment lasted just a few games before he was eventually moved to running back.

“I guess they saw I was fast and strong and put me at running back,” Harris said. “But I never got the ball at first. I was still just a blocker.”

Fast forward a decade later and Daron, who plays wide receiver and safety, went from manning the line to being slotted at nearly every position on the field. The Chester High senior has the Clippers rolling with a 5-0 record while he’s stuffing the stat sheet in almost every category. Chester will take on Chichester (3-2) on Saturday.

Daron Harris committed to Temple before his senior year.

“​​I’ve seen him grow,” said Jalen Harris, who plays quarterback for Chester and holds a scholarship offer from Temple. “From really our ninth-grade year to now, I’ve seen how serious he has become about it.”

This season, Daron has been the main catalyst on the Clippers defense. Chester has yet to allow a point this season and has outscored teams 111-0. Daron, a three-star recruit, has 16 tackles and an interception.

He also has displayed his versatility on offense with five catches for 166 yards. On top of that, he has dabbled in punting, played quarterback, and had a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown against George Washington on Aug. 30.

Even with his all-around ability, Daron /favors playing defense.

“You can be slimy,” he said. “That’s what we like to call it. You can be slimy and you can be a slider. That’s where you react off of somebody.”

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Daron is expected to play defensive back when he joins the Owls next season. Temple wasn’t on Daron’s radar when he began his recruitment process, which started slowly.

He began to get his name out at seven-on-seven camps and participated in the Under Armor Next Camp in May, hoping to leave an impression on a college coach.

K.C. Keeler took notice.

Keeler was hired as Temple’s coach in December 2024 and his first order of business was reestablishing the Owls’ Northeast recruiting footprint. He made the trip to Chester, where he spoke to Daron and the team.

The two kept in touch, along with Temple’s associate general manager for personnel and recruitment, Khalil Ahmad. Daron became enthralled with Temple’s new coach, especially with Keeler being ranked second in the FBS in career wins among active coaches.

Temple began to climb up his list until it came down to two schools: Temple and Eastern Michigan.

“The way I went into my two visits, I didn’t think about the other school,” he said. “I didn’t compare like, ‘Eastern Michigan did this, so now Temple has to counter and do that.’ So when I went to Temple, it was like a mutual thing. I didn’t know if I wanted to go there or I didn’t know if I wanted to stay.”

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Daron visited Temple this summer and spoke with Owls cornerbacks Denzel Chavis and Adrian Laing. By the time he got back to his home, he was locked in to play for Temple.

“I loved everything about it,” Daron said. “I really was talking to the players that are playing now, I was asking them the questions, ‘What should I do? What information do I need to take?’ They were really getting me right. They felt like big brothers to me.”

Now, the pressure of making a college decision is off his mind. He feels he can play more freely with the recruiting process over.

But another hurdle stands in the way.

For years, Daron and Jalen Harris have played on the same team. The twins are best friends, and they helped each other during the early stages of their recruiting process.

However, next year could be the first time that they won’t be on the same team, as Jalen has yet to make his pledge to a college program.

“We just cherish every moment we have together now,” Jalen said. “Just like waking up at the same house together, just going through everything together for maybe the last time.”

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And individually, Daron has some aspects of his game he hopes to address before joining the Owls.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s been OK,” he said. “It’s not where I wanted to be right now, but I’m going to pick it up.”