NASHVILLE – Jaylen Harrell was a top performer at Michigan a year ago, a leader, and tone-setter, on a team that won the national championship.
The edge rusher arrived in Tennessee as a seventh-round pick, knowing he'd have to earn everything he'd get.
But that was just fine with Harrell, one of the young standouts on the team in training camp practices, and preseason games.
"I feel like I've always had that prove-it mindset," Harrell said after recording two sacks in the team's preseason win over Seattle on Saturday night. "Coming off a national championship team, you get to the league, and nobody cares about that – you have to show you can do it on the biggest stage.
"I always have belief in myself. I am always a hard worker, a go-get-it type dude. So, I feel like that is my mindset. I look at everything like: I'm a seventh-round rookie and I have to go get everything, ain't nothing I'm going to get, I have to go earn everything, you feel me? I have to go attack each day, day by day."
Harrell has gotten to the quarterback, and the ball carrier, in preseason games, and in practices.
Just like he did in college.
Selected with the 252nd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Harrell (6-4, 247) played in 46 games for the Wolverines over four seasons, with 31 starts, and he recorded 78 tackles, eight sacks, 19 tackles for a loss and 11 quarterback hits. In 2023, when Michigan won the national championship, Harrell started all 15 games and racked up 31 tackles, 6.5 sacks, nine tackles for a loss and five quarterback hits.
Since arriving in Tennessee, Harrell said he's watched all of the team's veterans during his first few months on the job, from Harold Landry to Arden Key to Rashad Weaver. He's also listened to his coaches, from OLBs coach Ben Bloom to defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson to head coach Brian Callahan.
Before entering the league, he'd learned lessons from his dad, James, who played at Florida State and in the NFL with the Detroit Lions from 1979-83 and 1985-86 after a stint in the USFL.
On the day the Titans picked him, Harrell said he planned to adopt his father's mindset as he made his way into the league.
"My pops, he was undrafted, you feel me?," Harrell said at the time. "So, he had that killer mindset, that 'They have to take it from me' (mindset). Just getting that mindset instilled in me at such a young age, just being able to get drafted. I know there's still so much work to do. But I am ready to put my best foot forward and get to work."
Harrell has done just that.
Consider Coach Brian Callahan impressed, and encouraged.
He's already seen enough to think Harrell could help the team as a rookie.
"I'm not surprised," Callahan said of Harrell's success. "He played in a similar style defense and he's been coached. He came from a blue blood program. Those guys tend to show up. They play in big games. They played in winning programs. They know what it takes. So, we've seen all that. He played a physical brand of football in college, and it turns out he plays a physical brand of football here. He's been really, really good in the run. I think he's developing as a rusher. He's shown up, he's got production on the quarterback, but he's learning how to rush the NFL way, which I think he's going to improve rapidly in that way too.
"But he's risen as a seventh-round pick that nobody thought much of to being probably a pretty strong rotational player for us. It's been good to see."
