3. Madre Harper, CB, Southern Illinois (Raiders)
Madre Harper is a long, athletic, albeit raw cornerback. Harper stands 6-foot-2 and possesses 33 7/8” arms, which is in the 98th percentile for corners.
Harper started his college career at Oklahoma State. He was a three-star recruit and the 79th ranked prospect in the 2015 class per 247sports.
He didn’t play much for the Cowboys as a freshman or sophomore from 2016-2017, appearing in five games as a true freshman and only two as a sophomore.
He was suspended from the team for reasons unknown following a Week 3 win against Pittsburgh during the 2017 season. He was later dismissed. He then transferred to Southern Illinois for his final two seasons and was a standout among FCS corners.
Harper’s athletic upside is near-top of the entire 2019 defensive back crop. He wasn’t invited to the Combine but had he been, he would have ranked within the top-five among corners in every category minus the bench press and broad jump based on his Pro Day.
His 4.41 40-yard dash would have ranked fifth. His 40-inch vertical third, a 4.10 short shuttle also third, and his 6.7 three-cone would have been the fastest.
Harper has a lot to work on technique-wise, but his upside is high, and the Raiders do have a couple of back-end cornerback slots open. He’ll likely be battling with Dylan Mabin, Nevin Lawson, D.J. Killings, Nick Nelson, and possibly even Isaiah Johnson for one of those spots.