Major Harris Knows How to Run Show

By SANDRA McKEE

Sept. 10, 1989 12 AM PT

The Baltimore Evening Sun

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sometimes, West Virginia quarterback Major Harris seems too good to be true.

Little kids come up to him after practice, after games, when he’s walking down the street, and ask for autographs. Major Harris stops. He smiles. He signs until the last one is satisfied.

“I can’t believe his patience,” says West Virginia Athletic Director Ed Pastilong. “He is like that all the time. The kids love him because he gives them what they want and his teammates love him because he is a team player. There is an esprit de corps among them. I think Major vying for the Heisman will have a positive effect on the overall team performance. Because of the love they have for him, they’ll give a little extra for him.”

There are those who believe the West Virginia Mountaineers will have to give a lot extra, not only for Harris to win the Heisman, but also for the team to finish above .500.

Last Saturday, WVU opened the season by defeating Ball State, 35-10. This Saturday, the team travels to Byrd Stadium to take on Maryland.

The Mountaineers are coming off the most amazing season in their history: 11-0 in the regular season and a shot at the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl, which they lost to Notre Dame, 34-21. They finished fifth in the national polls, and Harris was fifth in the Heisman voting.

Harris returns as one of the top Heisman contenders, but he is one of few West Virginia players returning from last season. Head coach Don Nehlen says the Mountaineers have lost 13 of their top 15 offensive players and six of the best 11 on defense. Also gone are their punter and place-kicker.

“That’s a handful,” says Nehlen. “But we ain’t gonna forfeit and roll over. We’ve done a good job around here for nine years. ... We will get a TD or two. I don’t know how just yet, but we will.”

Well, he does know how. Major Harris will see to it. The 6-foot-1, 207 pound Harris is the solder that binds. But he’s not the entire machine.

“I don’t ever want him to think he has to do it all,” says Nehlen. “But we’ll ask him to do a lot, probably a lot more than last season. The fact is, every play starts with him having the ball. Sometimes he’ll give it away, sometimes he won’t. Major treats the whole thing like it’s a game, and that’s right.”

(Begin optional trim)

Nehlen would love to see Harris win the Heisman. But he also says he understands what it will take for him to get it.

“Twenty-one other guys have to help,” says the WVU coach. “If the other 21 fall flat on their faces, he hasn’t got a chance. But I tell you, if I was the right guard, and my quarterback was going for the Heisman, a little of that trophy would be mine.”

Harris is what his coaches call a “Now player.” That means that whatever he is doing at the moment is the most important thing in the world: If he’s at practice, it’s practice. If he’s in English class, it’s English. If he’s doing an interview, it’s the interview.

“With Major there is an image and then underneath there is a humble but complex kid,” says WVU quarterback coach Dwight Wallace. “He’s aware of our situation. He’s aware of issues. He’s a bright young guy who doesn’t want it known. People take care of him -- and he let’s them do it.”

And yet, the day he showed up at West Virginia, everyone realized he was a leader.

“It’s just his presence,” says Wallace. “He’s not demanding. He’s, well, there’s just something magical about him. And he’s a great competitor. When he’s playing pingpong, you’d think pingpong was his life. And if he falls behind, 17-3, he can literally talk his way back into the game and win.”

(End optional trim)

Major Harris sits quietly on a sofa in the Mountaineers football building. He is almost demure. Can this be the quarterback? Is this No. 9, the guy with the rifle arm and the dancing feet?

Where’s the ego? Where’s the self-important swagger? Where’s the “I am the greatest” hyperbole?

“It’s just a game,” says Harris. “A lot of people get caught up in it. All of West Virginia got caught up in it last year. But I’m just playing quarterback. I’m not carrying everyone on my shoulders.”

But he adds, almost under his breath, “I’m not carrying them, but they can come along if they want to.”

He’d rather talk about his all-new offensive line than about himself. This year’s line has fifth-year senior center Jeff Price (6-0, 257), fifth-year senior left guard Scottie Parker (6-5, 245), senior right guard Dale Wolfley (6-1, 260), fifth-year senior right tackle Matt Wracher (6-5, 265), fifth-year senior left tackle Jack Linn (6-4, 273) and fifth-year senior tight end Adrian Moss (6-5, 250).

Last season, his veteran offensive line took very good care of him. This season, he says, the new model will too, even though forecasters are knocking the Mountaineers’ chances.

“The season has barely started,” says Harris. “We’ve all got an equal shot. This team feels like it can beat anybody -- like Penn State in the past. It’s an attitude. To stay in the top 20 or the top 10, you have to have an attitude when you go on the field. We were up last year. We’re going to stay up.”

Price, who played in every game last season, echoes Harris’ confidence.

“We’ve got a lot of experienced guys on this line,” he says. “We know Maj is a candidate for the Heisman, and we’re going to be blocking to win each game to enhance his chances. We’re going to give him time and space, then we’ll see what happens.”

(Optional add end)

Wallace says Harris may not do things on the field “the way you want it done,” but adds, “he always gets it done. You’ve got to coach Major with results in mind. He shoots from the hip within the structure of the offense. That’s what makes him different. Others lack discipline, but Major stays within the structure.”

Given last season’s performance -- he completed 105 of 186 passes for 1,915 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushed 134 times for six touchdowns and 610 yards, a 4.6 yards per carry average -- it is difficult to believe Harris is still developing. But his knowledge of the multiple set is improving and so is his recognition of defensive coverages.

“The thing about Major is he’s still just having fun playing a game,” says Wallace. “The pressure has always been on him. I think he has run the whole show ever since junior high school. He expects to. There isn’t anything new about it.”

For the Mountaineers, Harris is special. And yet, as Pastilong, the athletic director, puts it, WVU has been getting ready for a Major Harris for some time now.

First there was quarterback Oliver Luck, a Rhodes Scholar who went on to play for the Houston Oilers and who is now in a Washington, D.C., law firm. Then came Jeff Hostetler, an NCAA Academic All-American who is now with the New York Giants. And now there is Major Harris, a prime candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

“Quite a string,” says Pastilong. “Quite a string.”

And at West Virginia, the feeling is that the best is yet to come.