Defensive lineman Derrick Harmon was one of Oregon’s biggest offseason transfer portal signings. Now playing like one of the nation’s best, he’s ready to put on a show against his former team.
Harmon transferred to Oregon as a redshirt junior after spending three years as a Michigan State Spartan. Harmon said a key part of Oregon’s recruiting process involved recruiters showing Harmon ways Oregon could improve “little minor details” of his playstyle.
“That’s what really enlightened me,” Harmon said during Oregon’s Media Day regarding his May 3. commitment to Oregon.
The transfer has been a good move. In only four games with the Ducks, Harmon’s already tied his season-best for sacks (2) and is almost halfway to his season-best mark of 40 tackles.
“I feel like I made a great decision,” Harmon said before Oregon’s Sept. 7 matchup against Boise State University.
The stats support that feeling. In his four games with the Ducks, Harmon leads all interior defensive linemen in PFF pass rush rating (91.2) and total pressures (18). No other Big Ten big man has a rating above 81 or more than 13 pressures.
Harmon’s 14 quarterback hurries rank second nationally behind only the University of Cincinnati’s Dontay Corleone. However, those numbers lead the Big Ten, as only Nebraska’s Ty Robinson (8) has more than half Harmons’ hurries.
Harmon’s ability to pressure quarterbacks stems from his ability to beat blockers. Harmon is ranked third nationally in block win rate, winning 20.5% of the blocks he engages in. Yet again, Harmon leads the Big Ten by a significant margin. Across the Big Ten’s other 17 teams, only Penn State’s Zane Durant (17.8%) has a win rate above 15 percent.
Harmon’s teammates predicted this success.
“I already know he’s gonna be disgusting,” fellow defensive line transfer Jamaree Caldwell said of Harmon during the preseason. “I watched his film before he came here. He’s gonna be disgusting in the middle.”
However, Harmon’s sack totals aren’t quite as impressive as his pressures and hurries. Harmon’s two sacks on the year are tied for 16th in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten. Harmon, who recorded half a sack against the Bruins, had not had a sack since recording 1.5 against the University of Idaho in Oregon’s season opener.
Oregon’s pass rush had been similarly middling since a four-sack performance in the season opener. After recording only three sacks in its last two games, Oregon’s defensive line tallied another four sacks on Saturday.
That defensive turnaround could spell trouble for Michigan State. The Spartans (45.2) hold the second-worst PFF pass block rating in the Big Ten, just behind UCLA (46.3) in third.
Oregon is fourth in the conference with a PFF pass rush rating of 79.2. Michigan State allowed four sacks to Ohio State’s lower-rated (79.0) pass rush in their last game, as well as two sacks the week prior to a Boston College pass rush (65.0) that ranked outside PFF’s top 100.
Harmon could be in for a particularly dominant day against his former team. The Spartans’ offensive line has lost two guards to season-ending injury, necessitating former offensive tackle Brandon Baldwin to start at left guard.
Baldwin has a dismal PFF pass blocking grade of 31.6 and has allowed eleven pressures this season. Unfortunately for Baldwin, Harmon has lined up against the left guard in 96 of the 123 snaps he’s played on the interior, making Baldwin-Harmon a possible mismatch for Oregon to exploit.
Four games into what’s been a fantastic junior season, Harmon is set up for further success when his old team visits his new home on Friday night.