Blount High School football players came out in support of their head coach in a social media video posted Thursday night.
First-year Leopards head coach Josh Harris has been put on paid administrative leave after a video surfaced late last week that appeared to show him spanking a student-athlete in the Blount lockerroom.
Mobile County Public School System director of communications Rena Philips said earlier Thursday that Harris was still on leave and the matter remained under investigation.
The Leopards (1-2) do not play this week.
In the video, three Blount players, including Antonio Jackson, spoke up on behalf of their head coach with multiple teammates in the background.
“We are here to address the situation with coach Harris and say that he is not a bad guy,” said Jackson, a senior wide receiver. I’ve known him since sixth grade. He’s like a father figure to us. He’s making us become better young men and achieve greatness and pushing us to go to college. He wants us to do good on and off the field.
“He’s been great to us, and we love him and that’s going to be our head coach.”
Two other players, who did not identify themselves, also commented.
“There are two sides to a story, so ya’ll listen to our side,” one player said. “He brought more greatness and more power to us every day that he’s come here and brings us joy.”
“He teaches us discipline on and off the field,” another player said. “The discipline he teaches on the field carries off the field and helps us become better men. When he teaches us something on the field, it’s just practice for when we hit college or get to the real world. He teaches you to become a man, not just a football player.”
The video ended with the players saying, “We love you, coach Harris,” in unison.
The 34-year-old Harris was hired in December to take over the perennial power Leopards.
Harris is a 2006 Blount graduate. He played quarterback for legendary Leopards coach Ben Harris – no relation – before playing college football at Tuskegee. Surgery ended any shot of Harris having a career in the pros, so he immediately went into coaching quarterbacks in the Atlanta area.
After he and his wife returned to the Mobile area, Harris coached quarterbacks at Blount for Lev Holly in 2020 and spent the 2021 season leading Scarborough Middle School to an 8-0 record and a middle school championship.
The Leopards return to action at Baldwin County on Sept. 16. No interim coach has been named.
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