North Carolina State University Athletics
Harris Gets Tryout with Dallas Cowboys
4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Brian Reinhardt, NC State Media Relations
RALEIGH, N.C. – From the hardwood to the gridiron.
Former NC State men’s basketball player Simon Harris is trying to make the transition from playing basketball at the RBC Center, to hopefully someday lining up in the trenches at tight end in an NFL stadium.
And that journey, which had about a 10-year layoff, continues this weekend.
Harris will travel down to Dallas, Texas, this weekend and take part in the Cowboys’ rookie mini-camp at Valley Ranch. Only rookies and selected first-year players (mainly just players who were on the Cowboys' practice squad last season) are eligible to participate in the three-day mini-camp.
For Harris, this will be his first time strapping on a football helmet since playing wide receiver in his middle school days back in Pittsburgh.
“The only thing that got me out on the field back then was I was able to catch the football,” said Harris (who currently stands at 6-4, 261 pounds, but claims he was scrawny back then). ”I loved football back then. When I was in middle school I was playing football, soccer and basketball. But once high school came around, I focused only on basketball.”
After he finished his career with Wolfpack basketball team in the 2008-09 season, Harris went over to Ireland and played in Moycullen for about a month. He then returned to Raleigh, and thought about the next phase in his life.
“I’ve always kind of wanted to play football,” said Harris. “About one week after I got home from Ireland my dad was just asking me what I wanted to do now. I just came out and said I wanted to play football, and he told me it was about time.”
Harris and his dad then sat down and talked about what it would take, but more importantly who they knew, who could get the ball rolling with getting some feedback about his pro prospects in football.
Larry Harris reached out to Keith Rich, an alum of NC State, who was friends with Darrell Moody of the San Diego Chargers. Moody attends many Wolfpack football games in the fall as a scout for the Chargers, and set up a workout for Harris.
“When I started getting ready for that workout in late November I was at 238 pounds,” said Harris. “Then I started working out hard in preparation, and by the time I had my workout with Mr. Moody I was up to 260 pounds in about two months time.”
“I got some solid feedback from him that day. That was the first time I’ve ever seen or ran those drills. He told me to get ready for Pro Day.”
During those months training, Harris worked with former East Carolina tight end Jay Sonnhalter. The two would go out almost everyday, where Harris would catch 500 passes a day.
NC State football coach Tom O’Brien and his staff then extending Harris and offer to work out during NC State’s Pro Day on March 24.
“The intimidating factor that day was it was only the second time I had run those drills,” said Harris. “I was so lucky in a few of the guys really helped me out. Jamelle Eugene helped me out a lot and so did Toney Baker. Willie Young was running right before me, so before he went he would explain what I had to do and I watched every step.”
Harris then took the step of signing with an agent, and a week into that, Harris’ agency started to hear back from NFL squads about his workout. His agent then sent him down to Orlando to work with Tom Shaw who is one of the best speed trainers in the country.
“I was there for two weeks working with Coach Shaw and a bunch of pro guys down there,” said Harris. “It was a great experience to work out down there. They all opened their arms up and helped me as much as possible. Coach Shaw and his staff really made all of this happen for me.”
NC State’s strength and conditioning coach for football, Todd Rice, has also been instrumental in helping out Harris. Rice has given Harris a lot of instructions of what to do, and has placed calls to help Harris out.
Harris then had to wait through last weekend’s NFL Draft to see is his dream would become a reality. He received a call before the draft started from his agency, and had to wait to see if his name would be called.
“I watched the draft everyday, and was just hoping I would have the chance to get drafted,” said Harris. “I knew it was a long shot, but just kept hope alive. The draft ended around 5:00 on Saturday, and I got a call at 6:15 from a staff member with the Cowboys saying what their intentions were. I almost fainted, it was unbelievable.”
Harris now leaves today for Dallas where he will attend the rookie mini-camp this weekend. Harris is going down there for a tryout to be invited back to preseason camp this summer.
“I’m excited about this,” said Harris. “To be in this position now, where I didn’t play college football but I still got to this point, I’m extremely optimistic right now.”
“It is really surreal how fast this whole process went. Three weeks ago going down to Orlando and not knowing what was going on, to now getting a chance to play for the Dallas Cowboys.”
Even though growing up in Pittsburgh and loving the Steelers, Harris does admit to always being a closet fan of the Cowboys.
“My dad is really close to Tony Dorsett because they went to Pitt together. So when he played for Dallas, I always had my dad rooting for him and telling me all about him.”
Harris almost had a chance to play football during his college days. After Herb Sendek left to take the Arizona State job in the early summer of 2006, Harris’ dad, assistant basketball coach Larry Harris, went out to Tempe for a month before returning to the Wolfpack sidelines as part of Sidney Lowe’s new staff. Simon thought if his dad stayed at Arizona State, he was thinking of walking on to the football squad.
“When he first left to go work with Coach Sendek, I wanted to go as well and try to play football,” said Harris. “It just fell through when he came back here, and I had always wanted to play basketball here at NC State.”
While playing basketball with the Wolfpack, football was never too far away from Harris’ mind.
“Me and Courtney Fells, who I lived with all three years here, would go out and throw the football everyday,” said Harris. “He was a pretty good quarterback in high school, so we always went out and tossed it around.”
Now after spending all this time away from organized football, Harris will strap on a helmet and shoulder pads and try to make his dream come true this weekend.
