By Matt Popchock

(mpopchock@kdka.com)

If you’ve been reading Chris Gates’ “Area 4-1-Zoo” blog, you know the Big East title race has opened up a bit. The last time South Florida was a major player in that race, defensive lineman Aaron Harris was starting for former coach/program architect Jim Leavitt as a sophomore.

Harris (6’5″, 270 lbs.) is slated to make his Arena Football League debut in 2012 after officially joining the Pittsburgh Power this week.

“Aaron is a beast on the defensive line,” said Power head coach Chris Siegfried Monday. “We look forward to having him here, and he will help our defense immensely.”

In 2007 the Bulls were ranked as high as No. 2 nationally, and Harris ended that season with a personal best 25.0 total tackles, nine of them for a loss, and 5.0 sacks. He ended his career with 75 total tackles (42 solo), 19 of them for a loss, and 11.0 sacks.

Harris brings the Power’s training camp roster to 27 of a permissible 35 players deep. The Power will try to continue filling spots this approaching Sunday, when, for the second time this fall, they host an open tryout at the Southpointe Fieldhouse. Check the official team website for more information.

In the meantime, here is how that roster looks thus far:

QB Bill Stull

QB Kyle Rowley

WR Mike Washington

WR Lonnell Dewalt

WR/KR P.J. Berry

WR Carlos Suggs

WR Darius Passmore

OL Jason Jones

OL Mike Lucian

OL Mike Byrne

OL Joe Blanks

OL Justin Wells

OL Corey Konycki

OL Dan Jones

DL Terrance Taylor

DL Dominie Pittman

DL Neil Purvis

DL Jada Brown

DL Aaron Harris

LB Anthony DeGrate

LB Justin Parrish

DB Bryan Williams

DB Tyrrell Herbert

DB Chris LeFlore

DB Ahmaad Smith

DB Knowledge Timmons

K Taylor Rowan

(Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/mpopchock)