Rams News

By default, Harris is
the Rams' top fullback
07/26 08:08 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

MACOMB, Ill. -- Opportunity isn't just knocking on Derrick Harris' door. It's ringing the doorbell. Sending a mailgram. Dispatching Ed McMahon from Publishers' Clearinghouse.
No one at Rams camp expects overweight Craig ``Ironhead'' Heyward to arrive at Western Illinois University any time soon. In fact, there's probably a better chance Heyward won't play again for the Rams.
That means Harris, 25, an obscure third-year player from the University of Miami (Fla.), is the team's starting fullback.
``Right now, it's his job until somebody beats him out,'' coach Dick Vermeil said.
Without Heyward, there's only Harris and rookie Raymond Priester -- who was a feature back in college -- on the depth chart at fullback. The Rams are checking the market for unemployed fullbacks, but there's not much out there.
So at this moment, there is no other option: Derrick Harris has to be the team's starting fullback.
``It's the best opportunity I've ever had,'' said Harris, affable, articulate, and eager to hang on to the job.
No one knows if he can handle it. Not Harris, not the average fan, not even the coaches. Oh, he looks the part at 6 feet, 252 pounds. But he has a mere 11 games of NFL experience to Heyward's 145. Harris has 5 yards rushing in his NFL career to Ironhead's 4,286. He has 17 yards in receptions to Heyward's 1,550.
``I know Ironhead's a great athlete,'' Harris said. ``I know if he wants to play football, he can be great at it.''
But Harris adds, ``I consider myself a great athlete. I think I can get the job done, but maybe they'll feel that I can't and bring someone else in.''
Harris was part of the Rams' 1996 draft class that included running backs Lawrence Phillips and Jerald Moore, wide receiver Eddie Kennison, quarterback Tony Banks and tight end Ernie Conwell. Conwell was drafted to play fullback but was hurt in the 1996 preseason and shifted back to tight end at the start of the regular season.
Harris was the team's starting fulback for the first half of that season. Then, slowed by foot and ankle injuries, he missed five games and lost his starting job to Moore. When Vermeil replaced Rich Brooks as head coach, the new staff looked at film of the last half of the '96 season to evaluate their returning personnel.
Like that old Beatles song, Harris was a Nowhere Man.
``I wasn't on film,'' Harris said.
Same way in '97. Last preseason, Harris suffered a separated shoulder on the second day of training camp.
``I missed all of two-a-days,'' he said. ``There were other guys who were in the same position as me who were cut. I felt I was blessed to even have a job.''
By the time Harris was healthy, the season had passed him by. He was inactive for 15 of the team's 16 regular-season games. He dressed for Game 15, against Chicago but didn't get in the game. So he went 0 for 1997.
``It was real rough for me,'' Harris said. ``At Miami, I played four different positions in five years, and never sat on the bench. It was hard for me, but it made me realize what type of game the NFL is.''
And what type of game is it?
``You can't make the club in the tub,'' Harris said.
In other words, Harris first needs to stay healthy long enough to show the coaches what he can do. Next, he needs to show them he can be durable as well. At Miami, Harris didn't play fullback until his senior season after previous stints at tailback, tight end and linebacker.
So his rookie year with the Rams marked only his second season ever playing fullback. Harris felt he was just settling in when he got sidetracked with his string of injuries. Even this offseason, he temporarily earned a spot in Vermeil's doghouse for opting to train in Houston instead of at Rams Park.
Harris says he trained hard in the offseason, but stayed in Houston because he and his wife had bought a home there and had children in school. Now that training camp is here, Harris basically is starting over.
``I'm competing like, `Hey, this is it for me,' '' Harris said. ``Like nothing has happened with Ironhead. If Ironhead was here, I would still have a lot to prove to the Rams and to myself.
``If Ironhead comes in, it's his position to lose. He was the starter last year. But if that does not happen, if he does not come in, I have the confidence of the coaches that I can get the job done. And that's a great feeling.''
Says Vermeil: ``I think he has enough ability to step up and do it. I really do. He can certainly do it better than someone who's 30 pounds overweight.''

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