WAUKESHA, Wis. — Donovan Harbour stands an imposing 6 feet 5 and weighs 320 pounds. When the Waukesha Catholic Memorial offensive line standout emerged through a doorway and entered an office after school one day this week, it was hard to miss. So was the bright smile and even brighter orange Tennessee sweatshirt he wore with a giant white T sewn across the middle.
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As Harbour closes out his junior year of high school, people continue to search for clues to decipher what he’s really thinking about his college future. He released a top seven on Dec. 31 that consisted of Penn State, Tennessee, Ohio State, Florida, Wisconsin, Oregon and Michigan but has revealed little about where he’s leaning. That’s because Harbour himself isn’t entirely sure yet, nor does he have to be.
Before reading too much into the Tennessee sweatshirt, it’s important to note that he also wore a white and red Wisconsin band on his right wrist and a maize and blue Michigan band on his left wrist. He rotates sweatshirts and wristbands for his other top schools. When Tennessee coaches visited him at Catholic Memorial recently, he just so happened to be wearing a Badgers hoodie that day.
“I just don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re committed to one school,’” Harbour said. “So you’ve got to wear different types of stuff.”
Harbour and running back Corey Smith, teammates at powerhouse Catholic Memorial, are the two crown jewels in the state of Wisconsin’s 2024 recruiting class. They are the highest-ranked players in the state, four-star prospects with scholarship offers from programs across the country. And they are the type of players that new Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell and his staffers would love to lock down in their quest to retain the best in-state talent.
For now, Harbour and Smith are keeping their recruitments close to the vest as they try to figure out what’s best for their long-term futures. Do they stay home and represent the state of Wisconsin — a decision so many people are rooting for them to make — or try to forge a new path? That’s what makes the next several months so important.
“I’m just taking it day by day, being patient with it,” Smith said. “I don’t want to commit too soon.”
Unlike dozens of in-state prospects over the years, Smith and Harbour are not automatic slam dunks to choose Wisconsin, which means the Badgers have plenty of work to do in the recruitment of each player. Smith followed the NFL and not college football growing up. Harbour’s favorite team was LSU.
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But if ever there was a high school program that could help them understand Wisconsin’s history and tradition, it is Catholic Memorial, which is located 71 miles from Camp Randall Stadium. Head coach Bill Young has won nine state football championships with 18 state title game appearances at the school. Given that level of success, Badgers coaches have been frequent visitors on the recruiting trail. Three former Catholic Memorial players are on Wisconsin’s current roster: outside linebacker C.J. Goetz, tight end Cole Dakovich and walk-on safety Charlie Jarvis.
“I’ve known about the Badgers,” Harbour said. “I haven’t really been a big fan of the Badgers. But when I came to high school, it was just all talk about the Badgers because they came in every single week. They picked up one of our players. One of them committed, then another one committed. That’s when I started following them. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a great football team.’ I’ve always been an LSU fan. But home is where home is. I just want something to be home for me.”
Smith and Harbour can’t go far without hearing from Badgers supporters — in the comment sections of their Twitter and Instagram posts or in conversations with classmates. Their unique predicament adds to the challenge of this process.
“They definitely feel the pressure,” Catholic Memorial offensive coordinator Mike Bichanich said. “If you asked me, ‘What is Wisconsin known for?’ I would tell you offensive linemen and running backs. So I think that also puts a layer on it because Wisconsin is known for churning out NFL talent within their position groups.”
It’s easy to see why each player is so coveted. Harbour is rated as the No. 1 player in the state and the No. 4 interior offensive lineman in the country. Smith is No. 2 in the state and the No. 10 running back nationally, per the 247Sports Composite. The only running backs to commit to Wisconsin in the internet recruiting ranking era with a higher rating than Smith are John Clay and Jalen Berger.
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Harbour is being recruited as a guard and primarily plays left guard in high school. Young said Harbour’s mobility and quick feet for a player his size are particularly impressive. Harbour said he prides himself on playing with “a nasty feature,” and Bichanich noted that mentality lifted the level of play for his entire offensive line. Young plans to use Harbour as a two-way player next season on the offensive and defensive lines.
Smith carried 96 times for 1,130 yards — 11.8 yards per attempt — and 18 touchdowns as a sophomore. During his junior season, he carried 163 times for 1,304 yards and 26 touchdowns. Smith added 22 receptions for 357 yards and two touchdowns and returned a kickoff for another score.
What makes Smith’s numbers even more impressive is the fact that he carried the ball fewer than 10 times in six games because Catholic Memorial was so dominant. He had just two rushes three times in games that Catholic Memorial won by a combined score of 182-14. On those six total carries, Smith scored four touchdowns.
“If we let him play four quarters, he’s thrashing record books,” Bichanich said.
Smith, who is 5-11 and 170 pounds, wears a necklace with a pendant that reads “1 of 1” and does so because he said he believes nobody has a style of play quite like him. Young, who is set to enter his 49th year at Catholic Memorial and his 50th year as a high school football coach, calls Smith “the most talented running back” that he’s ever seen.
“He’s truly the best,” Young said. “He can make jump cuts, can see the hole and then make one or two quick moves. He can read it and he’s gone. For a kid that’s not a 200-pound running back, he’s a real physical kid. He takes a lot of pride in his pass blocking. He can catch the ball. He’s just a real gifted athlete.”
Young encourages his players to participate in track and field during the spring, and both athletes have excelled. Harbour qualified for the Division 2 state championship in the shot put, while Smith qualified on the school’s 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams. He also competed last season in the 100, 200 and long jump.
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Wisconsin certainly has been doing its best to recruit both players. During Fickell’s first week on the job in December, he visited Catholic Memorial as part of his initial stops to introduce himself at area high schools. Wisconsin hosted Smith and Harbour for the program’s first junior day in January.
Harbour said he and Smith met with offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who discussed what his offense would look like. The two players also talked to strength and conditioning coach Brady Collins and the academic staff, participated in a photo shoot wearing Badgers jerseys, met with their individual position coaches and attended a Wisconsin men’s hockey game.
Smith met new running backs coach Devin Spalding in-person for the first time and said he appreciated how coaches explained his fit in the Air Raid offense as a playmaker with the ball in space. Harbour said he liked the way offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. was focused on developing a good relationship as well as harping on the importance of Harbour’s academics, which is something the two communicate about in weekly text messages.
“He says, ‘If you want to come down here and break down your film, we can,’” Harbour said. “I just feel like he had great responses for kids who want to come to the program but aren’t sure of it.”
Harbour politely declined to address which schools had stood out the most to him and said he intended on using all five of his official visits. Bichanich said Harbour and his mom plan to take an unofficial visit to Ohio State this spring. Harbour made two gameday visits to Ohio State last September to watch victories against Notre Dame and Wisconsin. Smith said he plans on visiting Georgia, Alabama and Auburn. Smith, who has 16 scholarship offers, has one from Auburn but not Georgia or Alabama yet.
Bichanich said Tennessee is a school that greatly interests both players. Smith and Harbour were on hand during an unofficial visit in October for Tennessee’s stirring 52-49 victory against Alabama. Penn State extended Smith an offer last week, and Bichanich said the newness of that opportunity intrigues Smith as well. Smith said he has made six or seven recruiting trips to Wisconsin, including for a handful of games.
“I would say I’ve got the most fan base there, so they’re up there on the list,” Smith said.
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Wisconsin’s history of in-state recruiting success amplifies the importance of gaining commitments from each player. Wisconsin has signed the No. 1 player in the state in every recruiting cycle since 2017 — six consecutive years — and has landed seven of the state’s 10 four-star prospects during that stretch. The only disappointing cycle for the Badgers came in 2022, when three four-star players signed with other programs, including two offensive linemen.
“Not that there has been a huge exodus of the best talent leaving, but you don’t want to be the coaching staff that starts that trend,” Bichanich said. “I trust coach Fickell. I’ve met him a couple times now.
“We’re not going to have two like this probably ever again. They’ll go down as two of the best that ever wore our jersey colors. And coach Young has a very high track record of putting the best talent that comes out of Waukesha Catholic Memorial to the Badgers. I don’t see it stemming anytime soon.”
Young takes great pride in the fact that he has sent 10 players over the years to Wisconsin’s football program. And he has made the value of staying home to play for the Badgers clear to both Harbour and Smith.
“I just hope they get in a situation where they can cut it down to two or three schools and then really focus in because the Badgers have done a great job recruiting these guys,” Young said. “They’re going to probably want to go take a look at Tennessee. But I will spend a lot of time with these guys once they get the stuff really narrowed in.
“We’d love to see these guys commit and play for Bucky because coach Fickell is going to do something special. The excitement that he’s generated and the kind of person that he is and the staff he’s put together, I think that’d be a great place for both these young men.”
A cacophony of opinions are out there if Harbour and Smith seek them. Ultimately, however, they recognize they will have to wade through all the options and come to their own conclusions.
(Top photo of Donovan Harbour: Courtesy of Billy Seidel)
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