For Ra’Shon Harris, growing up meant seeing himself through the eyes of a child.
Specifically, his daughter Za’Raya.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Duck defensive tackle became the father of Za’Raya 18 months ago, radically changing Harris’ priorities and forcing him to rethink what he wanted out of fatherhood and football.
“She’s the apple of my eye, always have a smile on my face no matter what I do,” Harris, 22, said. “When I’m here football’s first, and when I’m home she’s first. She loves me good, bad or ugly.”
Harris, nicknamed “Sonny,” responded to the challenge of balancing fatherhood and football with the finest statistical game of his Oregon career last Saturday with 11 tackles, eight by himself, and two tackles for loss. In an otherwise dreary day for the Oregon defense, which allowed 386 passing yards, the play of the defensive line stood out as a bright spot. Boise State finished with 38 yards rushing on 35 attempts. Oregon coaches voted him defensive player of the week for the team on Monday.
Harris taking a leadership role in his and his daughter’s life has paid visible dividends on the field for head coach Mike Bellotti.
“I think it’s improved his commitment to his teammates, his football future and just in general the type of person he is,” Bellotti said.
Now a senior, Harris’ play against Boise State flashed the type of skill Oregon coaches recognized when he arrived at the University in 2004 as one of the top-50 recruits from California, according to recruiting services. In his first two seasons, Harris had the opportunity to learn under 2006 NFL Draft first-round pick and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, to whom Bellotti compared Harris’ Saturday stat line.
“Since Haloti, we haven’t had a guy make that many plays,” Bellotti said. “I think that our play on the defensive line last week was maybe the best we ever had. I’m still concerned about depth there, but I still like what we’re doing.”
While defensive schemes for the line are usually “merely designed to occupy blockers and allow linebackers to make the tackles,” as Bellotti said, the ability of the tackles to put pressure on the quarterback and finish plays with tackles is an added bonus. Case in point: Coming into this season, Harris had 18 tackles in 30 career games. He started this season with only 4.5 tackles in three games.
Besides finishing plays, Bellotti and defensive line coach Michael Gray have seen another change this season from Harris: a more mature, responsible attitude. The reason for the change was easy to pinpoint – the birth of Za’Raya in the spring of 2007.
“I actually tend to think it’s helped him a tremendous amount,” Bellotti said. “He has a person depending on him now. He is very diligent with his visitation and his wanting to be part of his child’s life, and I think that’s admirable.”
Harris and Za’Raya’s mother, Amber, share time with the 18-month-old girl, whom Harris spends three nights a week with. She came with Harris to a team showing of “The Express” two weeks ago, and she’s a hit with teammates.
“All the guys are very, very helpful, always asking about her,” Harris said. “It’s nice that we’re a family and we’re tight like that.”
Spending time with Za’Raya hasn’t limited Harris’s development on the football field, however; he’s watching more game tape than ever, following the lead of defensive players like junior end Nick Reed. The extra film study has made Harris a smarter player on the line, enabling him to read the offensive line’s protection and find the gaps to the ball carrier. The key against Boise State was his staunch tackling at the line of scrimmage.
“I just think that the first two games how he worked he should’ve made a couple tackles that he missed and he wasn’t finishing plays,” Gray said. “This game was really about establishing himself as a guy we can count on making tackles, pushing the pocket, making the sack and making plays.”
The learning curve continues for Harris. Unlike the past, however, Gray believes his player will keep up.
“He’s growing up,” Gray said.
[email protected]