Redshirt sophomore guard Austin Harper is a transfer from Glen Oaks Community College in Centreville Mich. and looks to help improve the Eastern Michigan University basketball team.
Last season at Glen Oaks, Harper, a 6-foot-2, 185-pounder, averaged 15.4 points and led the junior college in assists with 9.9. He transferred this year and will have three seasons of eligibility left.
He started his college career at Western Michigan, where he was redshirted his freshman year.
Harper spent one year with the Broncos before transferring to Glen Oaks.
Now an Eagle, it will be interesting to see how Harper can help the Eagles improve.
“I felt the new coaches were going to turn Eastern into a successful program, and I want to be a part of that.” Harper said.
He was also drawn to the campus and the Ypsilanti area.
Harper started playing basketball in the eighth grade.His father, who played at Navy, was the one who put the ball in his hands and got him into playing.
If there were one moment in his basketball-playing career Harper could pick out as his most memorable, it would be winning the state championship in his senior year of high school.
Harper graduated from Grand Haven High School and was selected Class A first-team All-State by The Detroit Free Press.
He has a winning attitude and is determined to help turn the team around.
It’s always hard coming to a new school and getting adjusted to a new atmosphere, but Harper has supportive teammates.
“Antonio Green and Jamell Harris,” Harper said when asked who has helped him most in his transition to EMU.
“They’re a senior and a junior so they have been through the bad, and they want some positive to come out of this.”
He knows the struggles this team has gone through and wants to help with the creation of a new look for this team.
One thing Harper loves about this team is the supportive nature of his teammates.
“I like that they’re always there for me,” Harper said. “They’re all really good guys, and they’re always there to pick me up if I do something wrong.”
This team is helping him get adjusted to a new place.
As a new transfer, Austin looks to improve his game and become more of a leader on the court.
“I feel like I need to get everyone involved, be a floor general and a leader,” Harper said.
As a player, he likes to attack the rim and draw defenders and help get teammates involved.
He wants to step in and help be a leader on this team.
As an athlete, sports are always a good way to learn life lessons that carry forever.
“Hard work, that nothing comes easy but discipline is the main thing,” Harper said when asked what lessons basketball has taught him that he applies to his life.
When Harper is not on the court he likes to relax and hang out with friends and teammates so he can get to know them better.
After college, he wants to continue his basketball career somewhere overseas, where he can look to make a living playing basketball.
He has a back-up plan for if that dream doesn’t work out though — he said he wants to go into marketing sales.
