Standout University of Hawai‘i football receiver Jackson Harris has left the team.
Harris informed Hawai‘i coaches of his intention to enter the NCAA transfer portal last week and did not participate in practices following the team's regular season finale victory over Wyoming on Nov. 29.
Hawai‘i head coach Timmy Chang confirmed Harris' departure following Wednesday's practice at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
"We just wish him the best of luck, and we thank him for playing here, and that's just how it goes," Chang said.
Harris, a redshirt sophomore, joined the Rainbow Warriors as a transfer from Stanford in the spring. He was seldomly used by the Cardinal, where he totaled six receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown in 2023 and 2024.
In Hawai‘i's season opener against Stanford on Aug. 23, Harris hauled in a 19-yard touchdown against his former team in a 23-20 victory.
Although injuries limited him in fall camp, Harris emerged as one of the conference's breakout stars. He was named a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection after pulling in 49 receptions for 963 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games.
Though the next transfer portal window for football does not open until Jan. 2, 2026, Chang says Harris made the choice to opt out of Hawai‘i's bowl game on Dec. 24 and depart the team early.
As one of the catalysts of Hawai‘i's 8-4 season, Harris surpassed 100 receiving yards in six of the team's final seven games. Harris garnered backdoor interest from schools in Power Four conferences as the season progressed and he continued to put up numbers.
"I think overall, there's a lot of flaws in what in the rules and the non regulated rules of NIL, transfer portal, the calendar dates," Chang said. "I think if you were to ask coaches across the country, I think we'll all have different opinions. We work very hard from January all the way into the postseason and you're having to deal with coaches moving on, players moving on.
"When we talk about the team game and being a part of a team, being part of something bigger, playing for the brother next to you, those values just really, they don't line up. The system is flawed if you're asking this coach, but you'll get a bunch of different answers. But hopefully there's powers beyond that can come in and help and step in to just regulate and re-regulate some of the things that are going on, so that the things that you do preach and you hold a lot of values in like commitment and playing and doing things for each other and bringing value, and those type of things. I think those things really matter."
Chang, Hawai‘i women's basketball coach Laura Beeman and UH athletics director Matt Elliott were at the Hawai‘i State Capitol in November to ask for $5 million in state funds to boost the school's NIL payments to players. In comparison, members of Power Four conferences, where Harris is presumably headed, are providing athletes $20.5 million via revenue sharing for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Chang, who took over as UH's head coach in 2022, says the ecosystem surrounding player payments has gotten more out of control each year. The Rainbow Warriors have lost starters to Power Four schools each year Chang has been at the helm. In 2025, Harris became the first.
"There are so many things that happen behind the scenes because of what the rules are that you just don't know what kids are going through. On the surface, we're playing the game. But behind the scenes, there's just a lot of moving parts, and a lot of people talking and trying to create buzz, movement, value for themselves," Chang said. "There's a lot of hands in our game right now. Until some of these rules get regulated and our calendar gets situated right, a lot of these issues will continue to rise."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
