A.J. Harris
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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A.J. Harris (born Aron Jerrell Harris in East Baton Rouge, La.) is a wide receiver for the New Mexico State University Aggies in the NCAA college football tournament. Harris is quite a physical but a mobile receiver who can make the big plays for his team when given the opporunity as proven during his rookie year when he connected with some major plays with then quarterback Royal Gill and more recently with Chase Holbrook. Harris can also pad up the stat sheets as he has made his way into the Aggies' record books in the receiving category and may just break some of NMSU's catching marks before his career comes to a close.
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[edit] Personal Life
Aron Jerrell is the son of Byron and Darlene Harris. He hasn't decided on his major at New Mexico State University. A.J. also played basketball during his high school days. In 2007, A.J. encountered a minor legal problem after he was accused of slapping a former girlfriend. He was charged with misdemeanor battery but pleaded not guilty during the arraignment. About a month later, a resolution was reached between the two parties which allowed A.J. to return to the team.
[edit] High School
Harris went to the Redemptorist Senior High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he played under head football coach Sid Edwards during his junior season then under first-year head coach Guy Mistretta when he was a senior. [1] In his junior year, Harris helped led the Wolves to a 14-1 record en route to winning the 2003 Class 4A state championship. In his final season at Redemptorist, he guided the Wolves to a district title after catching 25 passes for 508 yards and six touchdowns to earn second team All-District 7-4A honors while playing on both offense and defense.
[edit] College
Harris was not the most highly recruited player and the most well-touted receiver during his class, receiving only a 1-star rating from Scouts. Nonetheless, he received a scholarship offer from New Mexico State and eventually signed with them as part of Coach Hal Mumme's first NMSU signing class.
[edit] 2005
During his true freshman year, Harris played behind NMSU's more experienced wideouts such as senior Paul Dombrowski and junior Tim Tolbert. He made his collegiate debut against Texas-El Paso where he caught a 9-yard pass in the 17-34 loss. The following week, the Aggies got shut-out at Colorado with Harris contributing a 7-yard catch. He did not see action at New Mexico and against California, returning to the field at Louisiana Tech where he caught a pair of passes for 32 yards in the 20-point defeat. Against Fresno State, Harris caught his first career touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Gill with 6:13 remaining in the second quarter and also returned his first career kickoff in the first quarter for 18 yards (at that time, stood as the 5th longest kick return for the Aggies for the year). He finished the game with 4 receptions for 28 yards in the 30-point setback to the Bulldogs. At Hawai'i, Harris caught six passes for 91 yards and had his first and only carry for the season for an 18-yard gain as the Aggies lost again, 28-49. He only contributed a 1-yard catch in the overtime loss to Idaho before catching five for 38 yards in the 50-point blow-out loss at Boise State.
Against Nevada, Harris erupted for a career high 103 receiving yards and three TD catches on only four receptions, including a long 43-yarder from Gill but unfortunately his efforts were not enough to lift the Aggies past the Wolfpack, 24-48. That performance however set some benchmarks for NMSU as it was the first game of the season where a receiver had a multiple TD game and Harris' 43-yard catch was his longest yet. At San Jose State, Harris outdid himself after catching a 48-yarder before finishing the game with six receptions for 94 yards in the 17-point defeat. In the regular season finale, he caught a season high 9 passes for 45 yards as NMSU suffered a 12th straight defeat at the hands of Utah State, 21-24. He ended the year as the team's second leading receiver with 39 receptions for 448 yards but was tied for TD catches at 4. He also established a streak of eight straight games with a catch.
[edit] 2006
By the start of the season, Harris had secured one of the starting wide receiver spot on the Aggie offense. He began the year with a 4-catch, 44-yard game in NMSU's first victory in over a year with a 30-15 thrashing of Southeastern Louisiana. However, the team got derailed by New Mexico the following week despite Harris' 7-reception, 80-receiving yard game. Against Texas Southern, he was also limited to season lows of 3 catches for 16 yards but somehow the Aggies came away with a 48-14 victory. He rebounded with one of his finest performance yet at UTEP when he hauled in career highs of 10 catches and 129 receiving yards with 1 TD in a 38-44 losing cause. He also had a brilliant game at Idaho the next game with seven receptions for 97 yards and 1 TD but the Aggies once again came up short, 20-28. In losses to Boise State and Hawai'i, Harris had identical 6-catch efforts with 30 receiving yards against the Broncos and 34 with 1 score against the Warriors. At Nevada, he only caught four passes for 79 yards but one of those catches was for a career-long 67 yard TD on a third and one pass from Holbrook. Against SJSU, he contributed five catches for 51 yards and then chipped in 95 yards and 1 TD on seven catches in the five-point defeat at FSU. NMSU once again tasted a win at Utah State with Harris contributing five receptions for 48 yards and 1 score before finishing the season of with 7 catches for 86 yards and 1 TD in addition to his longest rush of the season of 21 yards on a reverse as the Aggies crushed Louisiana Tech, 50-23.
Harris ended his sophomore campaign with 71 receptions (#2 on the team), 789 yards receiving (#3 on the team), and 7 TDs (#2 on the team) in 12 appearances. He averaged 5.9 receptions per game (15th in the nation) and 65.7 receiving yards per game (55th in the country). He also kept his streak of games with receptions as he caught at least 3 passes throughout the season.
[edit] 2007
With two years of experience tucked under his belt, Harris entered his junior year as one of Holbrook's main targets. New Mexico State started 2007 just as they ended 2006---with a win, as the Aggies held Southeastern Louisiana with Harris contributing five catches for 50 yards. The following week at New Mexico, the Lobos came out victorious as Harris hit twin digits in receptions (10) for 61 yards. He then added 7 catches for 45 yards in NMSU's 29-24 win over UTEP before tallying five receptions for 27 yards in the lopsided defeat to Auburn. Harris missed the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game due to ankle injury but managed to return the following week to catch three passes for 14 yards as the Aggies got shut-out by BSU. At Louisiana Tech, he contributed 2 receptions for 33 yards as NMSU lost a heartbeaking 1-pointer to the Bulldogs. The team got back-up and retaliated with a 45-31 victory over Idaho as Harris contributed seven receptions for 40 yards. He also dished out an 8-reception, 43-yard game in the loss to 16th ranked UH before turning out a career game on national TV against Nevada where he recorded 11 receptions for 130 and two touchdowns in another heartbeaking NMSU setback. In the loss to SJSU, Harris matched his season low of 14 receiving yards on 3 catches, then added a season high 12 receptions for 68 yards in the 18-point defeat to USU. In the regular season finale loss to FSU, Harris caught eight passes for 86 yards to improve his career mark to 81 catches which placed him on third spot in the school's all-time in pass receptions in a single season record and 3rd in receptions per game average in a year (6.8).
He ended the year with a team-leading 81 receptions for 611 yards (3rd on the team) and 2 TDs in 12 games. That year, he also established himself as the school’s all-time leader in receptions which snapped a 10-year record previously held by Duane Gregory. In terms of receiving yards and TD receptions, Harris is closing in on those records as well as he has tallied 1,848 yards and 13 TD catches which was 5th and 8th in the all-time records.
[edit] 2008
Harris, along with some of NMSU's valuable starting offensive players did not compete in the annual spring game so as to avoid injuries. He was listed as a Third Team All-WAC selection by Phil Steele during the preseason.
[edit] Career Stats
| Receiving | Rushing | Kickoff Return | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Ret | Yds | Avg | TD | Ret/G | Yds/G |
| 2005 | 38 | 445 | 11.7 | 48 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 0.2 | 1.5 |
| 2006 | 70 | 789 | 11.3 | 67 | 7 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| 2007 | 87 | 611 | 7.5 | 32 | 2 | 2 | -5 | -2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
[edit] Achievements
- 2008 Phil Steele Preseason All-WAC Third Team
- 2007 CollegeFootballNews.com's #18 Preseason Player in the WAC
- 2006 CollegeFootballNews.com's #5 WR in the WAC
