Trent Harris is in his second season as outside linebackers coach and his second season on the Illinois staff in 2026.

Over the last two seasons (2024-25), Harris has helped the Illini win 19 games, the program's most ever in a two-year span. The winningest two-year run in program history includes 15 Power-4 wins (the fourth-most in the Big Ten), six ranked wins, and two bowl victories over SEC opponents in the 2024 Citrus Bowl vs. #14 South Carolina and 2025 Music City Bowl vs. #23 Tennessee. 

In 2025, Harris coached All-Big Ten First Team selection Gabe Jacas to his best season in Champaign. Jacas led the Big Ten in sacks (11.0) during the regular season and ranked second in forced fumbles (3) and fourth in sack yards (60) as one of the most feared defenders in college football. 

Harris helped the defense have its best game of the 2025 season in the Illini's Music City Bowl victory over Tennessee, holding the Volunteers' offense, which ranked fourth in the nation in yards per game, to a season-low 278 total yards. Illinois held Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar to a career-low 121 passing yards, 53 fewer than any other game in his career, and snapped his streak of 36 straight games throwing for more than 200 yards. The win helped Illinois finish the season ranked #25 in the Coaches Poll. 

Harris spent the 2024 season as the Illini's assistant outside linebackers coach, helping Illinois to one of its best seasons in program history. The Fighting Illini finished the season 10-3, tying the program's wins record, and earned a final ranking of #16 in the AP Top 25. The season was capped by a 21-17 victory over #14 South Carolina in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in one of the biggest bowl wins in program history, as the Illini held the Gamecocks to 14 points under their season scoring average and South Carolina's second-lowest scoring output of the season. 

Harris, who took over leadership of the outside linebackers room for the final four games of 2024, helped guide one of the most productive outside linebacker groups in the Big Ten. The room included Phil Steele All-American Gabe Jacas, who finished the regular season in the top 25 nationally in forced fumbles (10th, 3) and sacks (23rd, 8.0); team captain Seth Coleman (53 tackles, 7.0 TFLs); and veteran Alec Bryant (22 tackles, 2.0 TFLs). One of the most impressive games of Jacas' career came under Harris' guidance in the Citrus Bowl, as Jacas consistently disrupted the highly-touted Gamecocks offense and totaled eight tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss in the win.

Harris, a former defensive end at the University of Miami, came to Illinois following a seven-year professional career that included stints in the NFL (2018-22), XFL (2023), and UFL (2024).

During his playing career at Miami from 2014-17, Harris helped lead the Hurricanes to an improved win total and a bowl game each season, culminating in a 10-3 campaign and a berth in the Orange Bowl as a senior in 2017. That season, he was named to the All-ACC Third Team after recording 37 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and a team-high 8.5 sacks. Harris finished his collegiate career with 126 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 15 sacks, three passes defended, three fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble.

Following his collegiate career, Harris signed a free agent contract with the New England Patriots and played on the team's practice squad during the organization's Super Bowl LIII winning season in 2018 when Illinois head coach Bret Bielema served on the staff under head coach Bill Belichick.

In 2019, Harris returned to South Florida, where he played 11 games with three starts for the Miami Dolphins. He spent the next two seasons in New York, reuniting with Bielema for his first season with Giants in 2020 when Bielema was the team's outside linebackers coach and senior assistant. Harris played in four games each in 2020 and 2021, making two starts in that initial campaign. He then spent parts of the 2022 season with the Baltimore Ravens during training camp, and on the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad.

In 2023, Harris earned All-XFL honors for the Houston Roughnecks after leading the league with 9.5 sacks, while tallying 30 total tackles and 12.0 tackles for loss. In 2024, Harris was drafted by the UFL's DC Defenders where he played his final professional season before announcing his retirement in June. 

Harris graduated from Miami in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in public relations. He and his wife, Abriana, married in 2021.