Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008 | 2:10 p.m.
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They landed him once, but they weren't meant to land him twice, it now appears.
Former Palo Verde star Jarrell Harrison -- who signed with UNLV as a quarterback out of high school in 2005 before failing to academically qualify -- decided on Tuesday to play his final two seasons of college ball at Missouri rather than with the Rebels.
In recent days, he'd lopped Arizona and North Carolina State off of his list of potential destinations, and announced his decision just after 2 p.m. on Tuesday on the "Talkin' Sports with RT" show on Fox Sports 920 AM.
A commitment from Harrison, who emerged as a Rivals.com 3-star prospect at safety while at City College of San Francisco, would have been huge for Mike Sanford and his staff. Harrison told the Sun a week ago that the UNLV staff had told him he could come in and start right away.
But the allure of playing in the Big 12 appeared to be too much for the Rebels to compete with in the end.
While he would have been a key figure in attempting to improve UNLV's pass defense, which ranked 63rd in the nation this season, Missouri may have needed him a bit more. The Tigers ranked 117th this season out of 119 FBS squads in pass defense, and will graduate both safeties -- including star William Moore. The Alamo Bowl-bound squad led by Gary Pinkel most recently surrendered 62 points to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game in Kansas City, Mo. That game vaulted the Sooners into next month's BCS championship tilt.
UNLV currently has 14 commitments for the class of 2009, including six defensive backs. The most recent verbal came on Monday night from College of the Canyons product Kenny Brown -- the younger brother of former BYU running back Curtis Brown.
It would be assumed that the Rebels' focus now shifts towards landing 6-foot-4, 245-pound Santa Ana (Calif.) Community College defensive end B.J. Bell. He's the younger brother of former Rebels linebackers Zach and Beau Bell.
Beau was the 2007 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, and currently plays for the NFL's Cleveland Browns.
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