University of Minnesota Athletics
Junior cornerback Jamal Harris
9/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Golden Gopher cornerback Jamal Harris is used to flying under the radar.
The junior cornerback entered his senior year of high school not knowing where or if he would be playing college football the next season.
But members of the Gophers coaching staff got a pleasant surprise when they took a trip in 2002 to Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, Florida to recruit future teammate Brandon Owens.
Owens stood out to the Gophers’ coaches, but they took note of Harris as well, who they previously knew very little about.
“I had a really good game so they started looking at me too,” Harris said. “I didn’t get recruited at all by Minnesota. So it’s kind of cool that I ended up here.
Everybody always laughs at that. It happened that (the coaches) come to see somebody else but, they got to see me too, so that was kind of funny.”
When he arrived at Minnesota, Harris spent two seasons as a cornerback sponge, learning and playing behind former Gopher All-Big Ten First Team selection Ukee Dozier, who served as Harris’ mentor.
“(Dozier) helped me with a lot of things,” Harris said. “He taught me as much as he could teach me.”
The help and advice from Dozier combined with relentless hard work proved successful, as Harris had a breakout season in 2005. He started every game and recorded 63 total tackles (41 solo) to rank third on the team, while establishing himself as a top cornerback and drawing the assignment of the opponents’ best receiver.
“That was kind of my coming-out year, when people started learning my face and my number,” Harris said. “Nobody used to know who I was.”
This season, Harris is prepared to carry more of the load, and pass on what he’s learned from Dozier and his personal experiences to assist the younger players on the Gophers defense.
“(Underclassmen) come to the older players and ask us certain questions, and I try to help them out as much as I can,” Harris said. “I know where they’re coming from. Transitioning from high school to college is a big, big step. Helping the younger guys can only make the team better.”
Harris has worked to get himself better as well, spending his summer putting in extra hours in the weight room with the goal of getting faster, and watching as much film as possible.
“He’s improved on a little bit of everything,” defensive coordinator David Lockwood said. “He’s worked on getting technically better and on staying focused. A big thing is that he’s matured a little bit and I think he’s learning how to be coachable.”
A personal goal Harris has set for himself in 2006 is to get more interceptions after having none last season and one in 2004. He has posted early returns on his goal, picking off two passes in the Gophers 44-0 victory at Kent State on August 31.
“This year I want to get more picks,” Harris said. “I want to make the defense better, I want to make the team better.”
Aside from his obvious football talent, an intangible Harris brings to the field is his energy and enthusiasm. More often than not, he is the one Gopher fans will see pumping up his teammates before games.
“The best part of my game is my energy on the field,” Harris said. “I think I help the defense out with my emotion and energy. I hope I bring the defense together and make them play harder.”
Although Harris has already proven himself as a football player in the Big Ten, he knows the path to the NFL is much more difficult. If it doesn’t work out, Harris already has a back-up plan.
“If the NFL comes I’ll do that, but I don’t have all my eggs in one basket,” Harris said. “If football falls through, it falls through. That’s why I’m here, so I can get a college education, so I can get a job and pursue a career. I’m not going to chase football forever. If it doesn’t work out as a player, I hope to be able to coach.”
But for now, Harris is just focusing on this season and a Gophers team that he says is more unified and driven than past teams.
And as a defensive leader, he wants to succeed enough to avert some of the attention from the Gophers’ offense, with its history of featuring one of the most prolific running games in the country.
“I want to help balance it out more, so people will hear more about the defense,” Harris said. “I want everybody to talk about the success of the defense the way that they talk about the offense.”
That, and maybe they can remember Harris’ number 15 as well.
story by Emily Wickstrom, athletic communications student assistant
