When Tom Crean took over the Georgia basketball program, he made a promise to his players, He wasn’t going to judge, he wasn’t going to assume, but he was going to evaluate.

Junior Jordan Harris is grateful his new coach followed through.

“I think that was the biggest thing for me. I come from a place where you get judged a lot, and that’s something he never did to me—he never judged me, he never asked me about anything or questioned me,” Harris said. “He just asked me if I was committed and ready to work. I said yes sir, and it’s been that way since Day 1. We’ve just been moving forward.”

Harris’ story is an interesting one. It’s also one that last season was shrouded in mystery.

After averaging 19.9 minutes through almost two-thirds of the season, Harris’ playing time came to a quick and abrupt end. The soft-spoken guard did not play in Georgia’s final 12 games.

Former head coach Mark Fox never offered an explanation why. Harris himself declined to offer any specifics when asked about what happened. He only said, “I’m just going to talk about basketball this year.”

Whatever the reason, Crean gave Harris an opportunity to put away any issues between Fox and himself.

“I was worried about (being judged by Crean), definitely. It was definitely something I thought about and worried about at first,” Harris said. “The first day he got here, we had a meeting, and I didn’t know if I was supposed to come to the meeting or not. But he made sure I was at the meeting. He told the whole team how he felt about me, me being here, so it was definitely good.”

Crean’s faith in Harris has been fulfilled. After an inconsistent start to the season, Harris has begun to find his rhythm. Now he's starting to see the sort of playing time he did his freshman year.

The past two games saw Harris score in double-figures in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, tallying 12 and 10 points against Georgia State and Kennesaw State, respectively.

“He epitomizes what we said at the very beginning. We’re not going to judge; we’re not going to assume—we’re going to evaluate. That’s all I asked of him. We weren’t basing anything on the past, but you have to live up to the present to get ready for the future,” Crean said. “It sounds kind of Dr. Phil-ish, but it’s really true, right? You’ve got to be able to do that. Every day you want to be working toward that.”

Teammate Nicolas Claxton said Harris has always had the team’s full and total support. “Everybody here is behind Jordan 100 percent,” Claxton said. “He went through a lot last year, over the last couple of years, and he’s just now getting his confidence.”

Harris admits he lost a lot of the confidence that made him a four-star recruit when he signed with the Bulldogs three season ago. He credits Crean for getting him back on track.

“Since Coach Crean got here, I’ve became a lot better player,” Harris stated. “But like (Claxton) said, I had begun losing confidence. It wasn’t anything that was mentally or physically wrong; I just lost confidence. But I’m gaining it back. I’ve been in the gym way more, working on my shot and finding my spots on the court.”

Harris’ court time has increased as the season has moved along.

After averaging just nine minutes in Georgia’s first five games, Harris has seen his minutes bump up to 15 over the past two outings—though he admits his first game back in the opener against Savannah State was more than a little nerve-wracking.

“It was a very different feeling for me, in the first game of the season. I was a little nervous about people wondering if I was still playing here,” he said. “I had a lot running through my mind. Nothing crazy, but a lot running through my mind.”

The feeling, he said, was surreal.

“It was definitely different. I was trying to please a lot of people. I think that was the biggest thing for me, just trying to please everybody, making the big plays and stuff, instead of just relaxing and being my good old self,” Harris said. “I tried to make a home run every play. It definitely showed when I watched film. I knew it wasn’t me, because I had been practicing great leading into the beginning of the season. But it was just different, being out there.”

Crean is confident that Harris’ best is still to come.

“I coach him like anybody else. I have an expectation level for him to improve. You want to help them get confidence, but they have to know what real confidence is,” Crean said. “He’s like any other player—probably 80 or 85 percent of those around the country. It’s very, very easy to get distracted and try to control what you can’t control, rather than really, really dive into what you can.”

Harris says that’s the plan.

“I just had to focus on what I needed to make this team better,” Harris said. “I just had to get back on track, and I look forward to getting better from here.”