Next in Line
April 22, 2004 01:31 PM | General
April 22, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There may not be any pressure on Kay-Jay Harris to keep West Virginia’s great tailback tradition going, but at the same time he understands where his place is in line. He’s next.
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| Kay-Jay harris ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns during last Saturday's Gold-Blue spring game. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“I want to go out with a bang and keep that list of great running backs continuing here,” Harris said after Saturday’s Gold-Blue spring game.
Since 1996 when freshman Amos Zereoue took his very first college carry 68 yards for a touchdown at Pitt, West Virginia University has been the home to some of the country’s top tailbacks.
For eight straight seasons beginning with Don Nehlen and continuing with Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia’s starting tailback has rushed for more than 1,000 yards a season, carried the football at least 222 times and scored at least seven touchdowns.
First Amos Zereoue; then Avon Cobourne and most recently Quincy Wilson have given West Virginia football fans an unprecedented span of quality runners. Over the last eight years the trio has averaged 265 carries for 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns a season. That's where the bar now starts for West Virginia’s starting tailback.
Next season the onus falls on senior Kay-Jay Harris to keep that tradition going. Unlike his three predecessors who are squatty, more compact-type runners in the 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 range, Harris is bigger and is much faster. He stands 6-feet-1, weighs 228 pounds and he says he can run the forty yard dash in 4.35 seconds. Those figures alone will keep pro scouts interested.
Harris is also much older. He will be 25 when the season starts next fall after spending three seasons playing professional baseball and two at a junior college. His maturity, size and speed make him an impressive specimen.
But can Kay-Jay measure up to the level of performance established by Zereoue, Cobourne and Wilson over the course of a long season?
To average 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns a season for the last eight years obviously you have to have talent. But more than that, you must be durable and dependable, playing through the minor bumps and bruises accumulated through a long season. Wilson, Cobourne and even Zereoue proved they could do that.
And, to play in Rich Rodriguez’ complicated offense, a running back must also be an adequate receiver and a more-than-adequate pass protector. Miss one backside block and you could be taking a handoff from the second string quarterback on the next play.
Those are the questions that Harris must answer this fall. In Rodriguez’ eyes the jury is still out.
The Tampa native missed two weeks of practice with a concussion and that stalled the progress of the offense. Rodriguez remarked after one weekday workout that he was frustrated with the injury situation at tailback because he wasn’t able to install a portion of the things he’d like to do next season. Also, by watching from the sidelines they weren’t able to pick up on the instinctive things that can only be learned by taking rep after rep.
For his part, Kay-Jay understands where his coach is coming from, “I kind of wish I could have gotten a little bit more (time),” he said. “Those two weeks off didn’t really do me any good shape wise. I was in good shape when I came in but those two weeks off when they wouldn’t let me run has kind of gotten me out of shape a little bit.”
More so than his physical conditioning, Rodriguez is worried about his mental conditioning. That was evident during the Gold-Blue game when Harris spent the first half trying to turn every carry into a 75-yard touchdown run.
“I thought he ran very average in the first half and didn’t stick it up in there,” said the coach. “He ran harder and better in the second half. Missing those two weeks hurt him, not just from a conditioning standpoint, but also understanding the schemes and running them the way we want to run them.”
At halftime running backs coach Calvin Magee had a little talk with Kay-Jay, “He told me to make up my mind and go; stop trying to stretch everything,” said Harris.
Kay-Jay responded by finishing with a scrimmage-best 96 yards on 15 carries. He also scored on touchdown runs of 24 and 10 yards. He had a long run of 32 yards but his longest, a 92-yard TD run, was called back due to a penalty. During his long run he was able to out-run speedy defensive back Pac-Man Jones to the goal line.
“If I got the opportunity to get into the open field I really wanted to show people how I could run,” he said. “I definitely enjoyed the fact that I had the opportunity to show my speed.”
Ironically, it is Harris’ remarkable breakaway speed that might have been his biggest detriment when he arrived last fall.
Harris says he came here with the mindset of trying to make a big play every time he touched the ball because of the big expectations levied on him and the fact that Wilson was the established starter. He has yet to entirely escape that mentality.
“Coming in last year I knew my playing time wasn’t going to be all that much so I felt like I had to go and make a big play right away,” he said. “I’ve just got to get it into my head that I am the guy and I’ve got to bang it in there for those three or four-yard plays and then let the big ones come.”
There were flashes from Harris last year as Wilson’s backup. He ran 91 times for 524 yards and scored four touchdowns. His 5.8-yards-per-carry average was tops among all WVU runners with 50 carries or more.
That has led some, including ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman, to list Harris among the nation’s top players for next season.
Harris says there are still plenty of things he needs to work on to get to that point.
“This off season I really want to work on getting into better shape: get faster and get stronger,” he said. “I feel good out there running. I felt fast all spring but it’s something I definitely want to keep working on.”
Mike Barwis, West Virginia’s strength and conditioning coach, has noticed a difference in Kay-Jay, “When he came here he was out of shape and fat. He came in about 245 pounds. Now he’s down in the 225 to 228 range and he’s got more muscle and he’s much faster. His work ethic is tremendously better.”
“I can always get better,” Kay-Jay added. “There are things I need to work on and I’ll continue to work on them this summer. As a team we’ve got a chance to be all right. Right now we haven’t played anybody yet but we’ll find out come September 4.”
We’ll find out more about Kay-Jay Harris as West Virginia’s featured running back, too.
Season tickets for the 2004 Mountaineer football campaign are now on sale. They can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com
