Tonight on Mountaineer Magazine
September 17, 2004 11:26 AM | General
September 16, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Well will he or won’t he? Mountaineer Nation is anxiously awaiting word on whether or not senior Kay-Jay Harris’ famously tender right hamstring will be ready for Saturday’s big game against No. 19-rated Maryland.
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| As good as Kay-Jay Harris looks in a ball cap, Mountaineer fans would prefer to see him wearing a football helmet this Saturday against Maryland.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
It appears West Virginia fans won’t know for sure until they get into Milan Puskar Stadium and check out warm-ups to see if No. 1 is running around on the field or standing on the sideline in a ball cap.
“I'm going to have a slumber party in the training room -- that's how long I plan to be in there,” Harris told Pittsburgh sportswriter Joe Bendel earlier this week. “I'm sleeping there every night. Come on in. Bring your friends. I'm staying 'till they fix me up.”
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t completely convinced he’ll be ready by Saturday.
“He’s still questionable,” Rodriguez said as late as Wednesday evening.
If Kay-Jay is out, then WVU will go to its two-headed tailback tandem of Jason Colson and Bryan Wright, with true freshman Pernell Williams a step closer to losing his redshirt.
Colson ran for 108 yards on 21 carries last weekend at UCF in Harris’ absence and has reached the 100-yard mark one other time during his career last year against Temple. Wright showed, too, against Central Florida that he may be able to carry the load. Kay-Jay’s 5-foot-6 Mini-Me had 55 yards on 12 carries and also caught a swing pass that he turned into a dazzling 11-yard touchdown. Wright spent most of the second half making plays on a bum ankle.
Colson and Wright are two young and improving backs but they aren’t yet quite at the level of 25-year-old Harris, who proved against East Carolina in the season opener that he has the ability to play on an entirely different level.
Harris turned 25 carries into a school and Big East record 337 yards, scoring on touchdown runs 2, 5, 51 and 76 yards. As the game wore on it became evident that East Carolina had had enough of tackling West Virginia’s 6-foot-1, 245-pound bruiser.
“That was the Kay-Jay we've been waiting on,” offensive coordinator Calvin Magee told ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman. “That's the Kay-Jay we knew was there. That's what he can do.”
After the game West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez thought Harris and the offense left as many as 100 more yards out on the field, meaning Harris could have easily reached the 400-yard mark and threatened LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-game NCAA record of 406 yards set in 2000.
“I could have had (the record) the first game if I didn’t come out with nine minutes left,” he told Bendel. “That was one drive, two tops.”
A week ago against Central Florida, Harris carried two times for seven yards against the Golden Knights before shutting his engine down and heading to the pits with an ice pack wrapped around his right hamstring. Interestingly enough, Harris may be the only player in NCAA history to have run for 337 yards one week and 300 fewer yards the next. That just adds a little more flavor to an already interesting character.
Harris recalls throwing down thunder dunks with Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady on the Tampa playgrounds and locking up against Tampa Bay quarterback Shaun King and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Darrell Jackson on the football field. He was also a four-time long-jump state champion.
Despite having the body and the speed to make a perfect running back, Harris chose professional baseball by signing with the Texas Rangers. But he found out that hitting a curveball was actually tougher for him than getting hit by 250-pound linebackers, so he decided to give football another try and enrolled in Garden City (Kan.) CC. From there he picked up the phone and called old friend Calvin Magee.
Before last season Kay-Jay boasted that West Virginia could have two 1,000-yard rushers in Quincy Wilson and himself. Wilson held up his end of the deal but Harris fell short winding up with 524 on just 91 carries. However, in 14 career games Kay-Jay is averaging an impressive 7.4 yards per carry and needs just 132 yards to reach 1,000 yards. If Harris can maintain his average-per-carry figure he has a chance of topping Bobby Moss’ 49-year school record of 7.8 yards per carry for his career.
Harris has also been one of the few effective weapons against Maryland, gaining 56 yards on six carries in last year’s bowl game and running four times for 34 yards with a touchdown in Maryland’s 34-7 pasting in College Park. Harris is averaging nine yards per carry against the Terps.
The rest of West Virginia’s ballcarriers ran 57 times for 185 yards in last year’s two games against the Maryland defense.
“It would give us another weapon on offense (if Harris can play),” said Rodriguez. “He has the ability to break a long one, but we'll just see how he responds to treatment and reacts as far as getting himself ready to play.”
“Everybody wants to see an encore,” Harris said. “I’m going to do everything I can to get out there on the field Saturday.”
Be sure to watch Kay-Jay’s story tonight on Mountaineer Magazine.
Briefly: With student tickets in great demand for Saturday’s game against Maryland, WVU backup quarterback Charles Hales helped at least three extra students get into the game. According to Friday’s Dominion Post, Hales offered three of his comp tickets to his journalism classmates after making a call to his mother to find out how many family members were coming up for Saturday’s game … the latest forecast from weather.com has the rain from Hurricane Ivan exiting the Morgantown area sometime Saturday morning. Temperatures are expected to be in the vicinity of 70 degrees by game time … Saturday’s game is the first time the nation will have an opportunity to watch West Virginia. ESPN2 is televising the game with Pam Ward, Mike Tomczak and Dave Ryan handling the call.
