Football: Major Harris and Coach Nehlen Quotes
April 30, 2009 05:51 PM | General
April 30, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University All-American quarterback Major Harris and Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlen's quotes following Thursday afternoon’s teleconference regarding Harris' selection for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’.
Major Harris:
On his induction:
I was definitely surprised. When I got the call, I didn’t know what to say. I was driving and to be honest the university told me first; I didn’t get a call from the Hall of Fame- I think I missed their call. The university was the one that informed me about it.
To be honest, when you don’t play a lot in the NFL, you don’t expect something like this. Most of the names on the ballot and some of the guys that get elected, other than the coaches, probably had a pretty good NFL career. Sometimes the NFL career can be the icing on the cake on whether you get in or not.
From a career standpoint, this is the icing on the cake. When you’re playing football, you never know what can happen and getting nominated to the Hall of Fame, that is an achievement.
On his proudest moment:
To be honest, getting a scholarship, because that is where it all starts. You play high school football, and you want to get recruited. Then to get recruited, and then to get a scholarship, I would have to say that was it.
On why he chose to come to WVU:
It was close to home, and I remember meeting Coach Nehlen. It was funny because when I first met him, I got him mixed up with his son, because they look so much a like. I enjoyed being down there, and I knew it was the place for me.
On the NFL maybe not being ready for the type of quarterback he was:
I try not to get caught up in that. I just was out there having fun trying to get our team a win.
On recommending whether or not college athletes should come out early for the draft:
It’s hard to tell them not to, when you see the type of money that these guys are making. I think it’s harder to tell a guy not to come out in football than in any other sport. With football, it’s tougher to tell a person not too. Everyone’s situation is different, especially in football.
On opening doors for future quarterbacks:
I never thought about it. I was out there playing, and I wasn’t thinking about how I was the first one to do this or that. I was just having fun and then when something like that came up, I didn’t even know about it; someone brought that to my attention. It was different, because I never thought that I was the first one because there were other running quarterbacks before me. That shocked me to be honest.
On whether or not he would come out:
Looking back on it, probably not, but like I said, when you’re young you don’t realize what’s going on or where you might go. They have a thing now where if the players don’t go high, they can go back to school. I think that’s in basketball. I wish they would have had that when I was in school.
On what he’s doing now:
I do a little coaching, and I’m back home in Pittsburgh working with kids.
On the play against Penn State:
The funny thing about that is that there was another play when I was a freshman that I was more impressed with. It was at Penn State when I ran one way and then back the other way, and threw the pass to Craig Taylor. He got it all the way back to the one yard-line but they called it back. If it hadn’t been called back, I thought we would have beat Penn State that year.
On coming to WVU:
When you’re young, you hear things and you don’t know what to expect coming from high school. When you get to college, it’s a learning experience and a lot of times when you look back you might say different things but when you are going through it it’s different.
On his leadership ability:
I just wanted to do my job. Going into a game, I thought we were well prepared and when you are well prepared, it makes your job a lot easier. During practice and by watching film, you know what kind of defense you’ll face. I think once you get to the game, you have already seen all that in practice, so it’s a lot easier. We were well prepared, and it helps when you have players that can make big plays. Big plays can happen everywhere. We had guys at every position that could make big plays.
On his decision to leave early:
The way I did it, I think it was wrong. But that’s looking back. When you’re young and you play for the National Championship, you’re nominated for the Heisman and when you’re an All-American, and then you look around the country at other players whose resume might not be as heavy or have that many accomplishments, and they are leaving and going to the NFL, you follow suit. I think the way I went about it was wrong, because I was looking at resumes. The one thing I regret the most is that I didn’t sit down with Coach Nehlen and ask him what he thought. I don’t think I was getting advice from the right people, but you don’t know that when you’re young. Now that I’m older and look back, I know I went about that whole thing the wrong way.
On Pat White:
I look at Pat, and he did great things in college. There was running quarterbacks before me and there were teams running the option, before I got to college. I’m surprised that teams have gotten away from the running the option.
Coach Don Nehlen:
On Major’s election to the Hall of Fame:
I’m not surprised at all. I’m a voting member, so I voted for him so I know he got one vote. You never knew what year somebody is going to go in but I kind of felt that Major was deserving and that some year he would get in. I didn’t know for sure if it would be this year or next year, but I felt that he was deserving. That ‘88 WVU football team was really something special, and he was the catalyst on it. It won’t hit him until he goes to the banquet at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel- he’ll know it’s something special. This is as good as it gets.
On the Penn State play:
They called either 37 or 39 and Major came out to the right and everyone went left and he just decided to take the ball. I never saw a play like that in my life; he left about five Penn State guys holding their britches and he ran in the end zone. It was a fantastic play, and I remember him coming out and saying to me that he screwed up. I told him not to worry about it and that we’d take it. That was a fantastic run. That is what was great about Major; he had those great instincts. I remember the offensive line asking what to do when Major takes off like that, and I told them just to stay there because he might be back. I remember those plays very vividly.
On recruiting Major:
We had Major in our football camp and people didn’t recruit Major as a quarterback but we did. I watched him play touch football, I thought if no one could touch him then they are going to have a heck of a time tackling him. We wanted him as a quarterback right away and when we got him, we knew we were going to play option football and throw play-action passes and the long bomb off the option play which is very difficult to defend.
On Major’s leadership:
Major is the kind of guy whose personality is infectious. When he was playing for us, he was a folk hero in West Virginia and that never seemed to bother him, and I don’t think he ever knew that he was a hero here in this state. Our kids respected him because he never changed. What you see is what you get. Major was Major, and I think that is why people respected him and really followed him.
