A Conversation with Spartan Football Director of Player Engagement Darien Harris

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/DHarris_45">Harris</a> talks about what attracted him to MSU and about some his favorite moments on the football field. And he describes his role as the first director of player engagement for <a href="https://twitter.com/msu_football">Spartan Football</a>.</p><p>“It's a position centered around player development, and basically player development is everything off the field that we do with our student athletes,” Harris tells Beekman. “And that spans a wide range of activities, especially with name, image and likeness (NIL) coming out this year and everything that entails for a student athlete. From <a href="https://twitter.com/coach_mtucker">Coach Tucker</a>'s lead on down, we believe in developing the entire holistic student athlete. That means your academic career and your athletic career, but also your social career and your mental and spiritual side as well. So developing all of that. I get to touch the academics, the social, the mental, the spiritual, the branding, all of that.”</p><p>Harris talks about the <a href="https://twitter.com/msuovertime">Overtime Program</a> and tries to describe a typical day in the life of a director of player engagement and says the days he gets to spend with student athletes are the best days. He also talks about Coach Tucker’s “relentless” approach to everything he does. </p><p>“His work ethic is off the charts, and he makes you want to work harder. It's similar to what you see from your best player on your team. Hopefully, your team captain, whoever it is, the hardest worker and you want to emulate what they're doing. I feel the same way about Coach Tucker. The veracity and relentless nature, to use his word, in which he works is something that motivates me every single day. And I think also the beauty of working under him, working for him, is that he's not a micromanager. So if you have an idea, if you have something you want to do, something you want to facilitate, he's going to let you do it.</p><p>“If he has something that he thi