Former New Oxford star signs with NFL's Saints
A former New Oxford Colonials football star is finally getting his shot to make an NFL team after three years in the Canadian Football League.
Erik Harris, a 2008 New Oxford High School graduate, signed a contract with the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday, just hours after a half-hour workout in front of team officials. The Saints won Super Bowl XLIV six years ago and went 7-9 last season.
“I feel like this is a great opportunity for me," Harris said. "This is the closest I’ve been, I’ve never had a private workout with an NFL team or anything like this. This is the first time my foot’s been in the door, so I’m pretty excited.”
Harris, a defensive back, spent the last three seasons playing for the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats after graduating from California University of Pennsylvania. He played in every game each of the last two seasons and amassed a career-high 43 tackles and two interceptions this past season.
He will be one of 90 players on the Saints roster before all teams are required to trim down to 53 players, with an additional eight players on the practice squad, by the start of the 2016 season. Harris' former Tiger-Cats teammate Delvin Breaux joined the Saints last offseason as a defensive back and went on to start every game for the team this past fall, racking up 45 tackles and three interceptions.
“He was my road-trip roommate, we always talked about things, we got real close," Harris said of Breaux. “He kind of just kept putting the word in for me and they went with it. I guess they trusted him that much and believed in his opinion that much that they brought me down, and they liked what they saw.”
Harris, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, said he doesn't have any concerns about getting reacquainted with the American-version of the game. He feels his time in the CFL was valuable.
“I think it might’ve been the best thing that happened to me as far as football," he said. "Coming out of college, I was kind of a hybrid, I was 230 (pounds), I could play safety but I was the weight of a linebacker. Playing at the D-II level, I kind of got away with my athleticism and my weight, so I was kind of a project for the NFL. The CFL helped solidify my skill set and solidify what I can actually do.
“It also helped me grow as a person, it gave me more time to mature. A lot of guys come out of college young and they’re still maturing. They get all that NFL money and temptations and they just don’t know how to say no. Having the time to mature and having a family has really helped me stay grounded with everything.”
Harris hopes his long, nontraditional journey to the NFL can inspire other players who don't get the opportunity to play major college football or aren't given a look from the NFL right away.
“It just lets you know that they’ll find you if you’re working," he said. "If you’re putting in the work and you’re a good person, things will happen for you.”