Nic Harris

From NCAA College Football Information & Resource

Nic Harris

Profile
College	University of Oklahoma
Position	DB
Jersey No.	5
Class	Senior
Career	2005 – present
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	230 lbs (104.3 kg)
Nationality	American
B-date	October 6, 1986
B-place	Alexandria, Louisiana
High School	Alexandria High School
Career Highlights
Awards
2007 AFCA Good Works Team 2007 All-Big 12 First Team (Coaches) 2007 AP All-Big 12 Second Team 2007 FWAA Courage Award Nominee 2007 Jim Thorpe Award Watch List 2007 Ronnie Lott Award Nominee 2007 Phil Steele All-Big 12 Second Team 2007 Scout.com All-America 3rd Team 2007 Wooden Citizenship Cup semifinalist
Championships
2007 Big 12 Conference Champion 2007 Big 12 - South Division Champion 2006 Big 12 Conference Champion 2006 Big 12 - South Division Champion
Bowl Games
2008 Fiesta Bowl 2007 Fiesta Bowl 2005 Holiday Bowl

Nic Harris (born October 6, 1986) plays the defensive back position for the University of Oklahoma Sooners in the NCAA college football tournament. A four-star rated defensive player in high school, Harris has been a stalwart in the Sooner secondary since 2005. His rise to the top however did not come without any bumps and struggles in and out of the football field. Harris had a very challenging childhood which he both survived and thrived with the help of his close relatives and friends. Apart from his standout play on the field, Harris has also been recognized a number of times for his contributions as part of a minority community service organization named Bridge Builders who participate in several projects in the Norman/Oklahoma city area. Harris will undoubtedly become one of the highly regarded and classy players once he steps up into the next level.

1 Personal Life
2 High School
3 College
- 3.1 2005
- 3.2 2006
- 3.3 2007
- 3.4 2008
4 Career Stats
5 Achievements
6 References

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Personal Life

Nic was born in 1986 to a 17-year-old father and a 16-year-old mother. Since his parents are still incapable of raising him, he saw himself shuttled from house to house among his family and friends throughout his childhood in Alexandria, La (approx. three-and-a-half hours away from New Orleans). Then finally, a woman named LaQuanda Harrell, whom he calls stepmother, took care of him when he was 8 and was her legal guardian when he was 15. She was never married to his father, but did give birth to one of Nic's eight siblings. Apart from his stepmom, he also gives credit to his grandparents — Shirley and Emanuel Hayes on his father's side, Charlie and Hattie Harris on his mother's side — for keeping him focused in his early years.

Nic is the president of the BridgeBuilders, a group of OU student-athletes who reach out to African-American children. He's been involved with Toys for Tots and other programs that focus on gathering food or raising money for children and families. In September of 2007, he was selected as one of 11 NCAA Division I-A players on the American Football Coaches' Association Good Works Team, which chooses its honorees based solely on work in the community.

Growing up, Nic has held jobs at a sporting goods store, as a baseball umpire and a basketball official. His life story earned him a nomination for the FedEx Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award on the 24th of October, 2007.

Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are his two favorite athletes. In a NewsOk.com article, he admitted that he always liked "Prime Time” Deion Sanders while he was growing up because of the "flash and the prima donna nature" but added that he eventually learned to look up to the harder working athletes. He also supports his homestate team, the New Orleans Saints in the NFL.

A planned program major at the University of Oklahoma, Nic was tied with fellow DB Dominique Franks for the lowest body fat percentage on the team at 4.6. He says he doesn't have any pre-game rituals, just a little reading on his Bible. Nic is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

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High School

Harris went to Alexandria Senior High School in Alexandria, Louisiana where he orginally played as a tailback before suffering an ankle injury that forced him to switch positions. He ended up playing defense for coach Butch Stoker while moonlighting as a wide receiver and punt returner in several occassions to help his school reach the state playoffs a couple of times. During his junior year, he tallied 81 tackles and 10 pick-offs then recorded 74 and 11 the following year, with four touchdown returned from those interceptions to earn the All-CENLA defensive MVP award as well as an All-Central Louisiana Honors. In addition, the unanimous 2004 Defensive MVP Louisiana concluded his high school career as Alexandria's record holder in interceptions (21) and interceptions returned for touchdowns (9).

Entering college, Harris was ranked by ESPN.com as the No. 11 safety in the nation, by Scout.com as the No. 62 player in the Southeast, by Rivals.com as the No. 94 player and the No. 5 safety in the nation, and by CollegeFootballNews.com as the No. 7 safety in the nation. Harris was also quite impressive academically, sporting a 4.0 GPA.

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College

Harris received several offers, including one from Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and even from his home state team of LSU. He however chose to sign for Oklahoma over Michigan.

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2005

With the departure of safeties Brodney Pool and Dontae Nicholson, Harris received some playing time as a true freshman on the defense but earned most of his minutes on the special teams. Harris made his collegiate debut against TCU but did not tally his first career tackle until his second game of the season against Tulsa. He did not play against UCLA but got the nod to start against Kansas State where he joined fellow true freshman Reggie Smith, marking only the second time in school history that two freshmen had started in the secondary. Against the Wildcats, he established a career high of seven tackles in addition to a sack to help the Sooners secure a 43-21 win. He reprised his starting role at free safety the next game against Texas and also finished the game with seven stops, with his first career forced fumble in the 12-45 loss to the Longhorns. Harris came off the bench the rest of the year, playing all but one game (against Texas Tech) while making his postseason debut against Oregon, recording a solo stop in the three-point Holiday Bowl victory.

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2006

With OU's talent-laden crew on the secondary, Harris spent much of the year rotating throughout the defensive secondary unsure of how much playing time he would get week in and week out. He played the nickel role most of the year, but still kept his focus and continued to work hard throughout the course of his sophomore season, finally taking over as free safety for the last three games.

He made his season debut against UAB and had three assisted tackles and a quarterback hurry in the 1-touchdown victory over the Blazers. He then matched his career high of seven tackles the following week in the win over Washington (with 1.5 TFLs) only to break it the following week on his first starting appearance at Oregon. Against the Ducks, Harris registered 8 tackles with a season high 5 solos, in addition to two interceptions as the Sooners barely lost via a missed field goal, 33-34. He returned on his back-up role in the next two games against Middle Tennessee State and Texas, but still managed to record three stops, his first sack for a 4-yard loss, a pass break-up, a QB hurry, and an interception returned for 11 yards in the shut-out victory over the Blue Raiders, then had five stops in the 18-point defeat to the Longhorns. In the ensuing three assignments, Harris was back on the starting line-up, but was limited to a season low two tackles against Iowa State, had three and a pass deflection against Colorado, then added six more with another pass interference at Missouri.

He once again came off the bench against Texas A&M and delivered four tackles, including one for an 8-yard loss, in the 1-point victory over the Aggies. In the last three outings of the regular season, Harris got the nod to start and responded with 7-tackle games against Texas Tech and Baylor before finishing with five stops with two pass break ups at Oklahoma State. He did not start against Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game but had three tackles, a sack for a 6-yard loss, two pass break-ups, a quarterback hurry, and an interception in the 21-7 win over the Huskers. He did manage to sneak his way back to the starting roster in the Fiesta Bowl where he managed to tally 5 solos in the 42-43 overtime loss to Boise State. By season's end, Harris was named into the All-Big 12 Second Team after leading his team in interceptions (4) and placing fourth in total tackles (68).

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2007

Entering his junior year, Harris---the team's returning leading tackler---had a more defined role heading into camp. He led the defense in the spring game with 8 tackles. In the season opener against North Texas, Harris tallied four tackles, with 2 TFLs for a 16-yard loss total, a sack for a 10-yard loss, a pass break up, a forced fumble, and an interception which he returned for a 25-yard score in the lopsided win over the Mean Green. He was down to three assisted tackles but had a season high 2.5 TFLs and 1 forced fumble in the 51-13 victory over Miami (Fla.), before registering three more stops with a season best 2 pass break ups in the third straight home win over Utah State. Against the high-octane offense of Tulsa, Harris racked up seven tackles with half a sack and one pass deflection to help limit the Golden Hurricane to 21 points in the Sooners' first road win of the year. However the 3rd ranked Oklahoma were upset at Colorado amidst Harris' 10-tackle performance (a career best with a season high 7 solos) via a 24-27 humbling defeat. The team did manage to rebound against Texas, with Harris tallying 8 stops, including a sack for a 9-yard loss in the 28-21 win. He also came up big against 11th ranked Mizzou, racking up nine tackles and an interception in the 10-point victory.

Since the win over the Tigers, the Sooners came up with a three-game win streak that began at Iowa State and ended in Baylor. During that span, Harris managed to tally 7 stops against the Cyclones, 3 stops including one for a 7-yard loss against the Aggies, and four more with a quarterback hurry against the Bears. The streak was snapped when the Sooners visited Texas Tech, where Harris had five solos, with 1 pass deflection against the Red Raiders. He ended the regular season with a three-tackle effort and a sack for an 8 yard loss in the win over the Cowboys. In his second straight Big 12 Championship win, Harris chipped in six tackles, with one for an 11-yard loss against Missouri. However, for the second straight year, Harris and Co. got denied of a Fiesta Bowl victory after being defeated by an upstart West Virginia squad to the tune of 28-48. Harris was limited to a season low 2 tackles in that game.

Harris made it to the All-Big 12 Team for the second straight year after the league coaches placed him on the first team while the media named him a second team selection. He was also nominated for the FWAA Courage and Ronnie Lott Awards and was a semifinalist for the Wooden Citizenship Cup. He finished as the team's fifth leading tackler (74 tackles), third in TFLs, tied for second in sacks, second in PBUs, and third in pick-offs.

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2008

During the offseason, Harris was kept on the sidelines with an injured shoulder. He was one of the nation's 42 top collegiate defensive players who have been named to the 2008 Lott Trophy Watch List on April and was also one of three Sooners named on the Nagurski Trophy Watch List.

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Career Stats

	Interception				Tackle				Tackle for Loss			Sacks			Misc
Year	Int	Yds	TD	Int./G	Solo	Asst	Ttl	TPG	TFL	TFLYds	TFL/G	Sck	Yds	Sck/G	PBU	QBH	FF	K/P Blk
2005	0	0	0	0.0	8	8	16	1.6	1.0	0	0.1	1	0	0.1	0	0	1	0
2006	4	11	0	0.29	40	28	68	4.86	7.0	42	0.50	2.5	11	0.18	8	5	0	0
2007	2	25	1	0.14	50	24	74	5.29	9.5	63	0.68	3.5	29	0.25	7	1	2	0