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Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Next in Line
Central Oklahoma, OK
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Javon Harris is headed to Oklahoma next fall, but is he headed to the top of the list of great players from Lawton?
Rod Fisher sat in the Lawton MacArthur football coaches’ office, legs kicked up on the desk, arms crossed behind his head.
"Oh come on Javon," the Highlander assistant said as running back Javon Harris walked through the door bare-chested. "Who do you think you are? Put a shirt on."
Harris was quick with his response.
"Don't be jealous," the senior said with a smile. "I look better than you ever did."
These days, Harris looks as good as anyone Lawton football has produced. Real good. The Oklahoma commitment has Lawton Mac off to a great start and is continuing the city of Lawton’s tradition of putting out top-caliber players.
Lawton’s reputation for producing blue chip football players is well known, and while Fisher is also part of that lore breaking all of MacArthur’s rushing records before heading to the University of Oklahoma 20 years ago, could Harris really be the next big thing out of Lawton?
If so, it would be pretty impressive. The pipeline from Lawton to Norman is long. It includes: lineman Jammal Brown, running back Dewell Brewer, defensive backs D.J. Wolfe and Antonio Perkins and defensive linemen Martin Chase and Larry Birdine. Meanwhile, receiver Eddie Hinton might have been the best of them all.
But that’s only the part of the list. At one point, Lawton’s four NFL players – offensive lineman Will Shields (Nebraska/Kansas City), defensive lineman Darryl Gardner (Baylor/Miami) and defensive backs James Trapp (Clemson/Oakland) and Mike Minter (Nebraska/Carolina) – made the city the second-leading producer of NFL talent behind only Miami, Fla.
“It’s a good honor, to have my name spoken along with those other guys, but I don’t see it as ‘following,’” Harris said. “I like to be a leader, and my versatility makes me a different player than anyone else. I just want to go up there and do the best that I can do.”
The best he can do wasn’t enough to get a lot of attention a year ago. After finishing his junior season he wasn’t even one of MacArthur’s two All-Staters. While OU allowed Eisenhower running back Harrison Jeffers and Lawton High quarterback/defensive back Cornelius Douglas to go to Texas Tech without seriously recruiting either, some questioned whether the Sooners had picked the right player when they got Harris to orally commit.
But Harris has been out to prove his worth this season, and he’s done so quite convincingly. It started in the weight room, where Harris chiseled the 6-0, 196-pound frame that doesn’t show an ounce of body fat.
“I have to give him credit,” MacArthur head coach Ernie Manning said. “We have a summer program, but the players are the ones who have to get in there and do the work. He’s always been very motivated to be bigger, stronger and faster.”
His conditioning has come in handy as he’s on the field for almost every play, be it offense, defense or special teams. During a 55-35 victory over Lawton High on Sept. 12, many players from both teams suffered cramps during the muggy night, but not the guy who played more than any of them.
And Harris isn’t just taking up space or serving as a decoy. He’s one of the reasons the Highlanders earned the Lawton City Championship and one of the reasons Mac is ranked in the top five of Class 5A.
His numbers from the Lawton High game read more like a novella than a stat line. Lining up at defensive end, he recorded eight tackles, three sacks and forced a fumble. On special teams, he returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. As MacArthur’s primary running back, he carried 14 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns, and he caught five passes for 75 yards and another score. And when Mac broke out an “Arkansas” formation, with Harris taking Darren McFadden’s old role receiving the shotgun snaps, he completed a pass for a short gain.
That four-touchdown performance was followed by another the next week against Eisenhower. This time he carried 11 times for 124 yards, caught one pass for 12 yards and completed a double pass back to Mac quarterback Ryan John for 18 yards. His touchdown runs came from 19, 1, 2 and 13 yards, the last being the most impressive. Harris broke three tackles in the backfield, tiptoed over the wreck of bodies grasping at his ankles and sprinted to the end zone.
"His importance to our team is pretty evident," Manning said. "He contributes in all three phases of the game. It's not every year you have a guy who can do all those things."
And it’s not even one of those things for which OU recruited Harris. The Sooners plan to use him as a safety, though Harris said they’ve recently talked to him about playing running back.
“I prefer defense, but whatever they want to do is fine,” he said. “I just like to be on the field.”
Growing up, Harris dreamed of playing in the Red River Rivalry – but not for the Sooners.
"Everyone knows I always liked Texas, but OU really came on at the end," he said. "I just like the opportunities they give me to play."
But Harris promises he’s not comparing himself to those who came before him – even Fisher, who set some pretty impressive records, himself, at Mac.
“I led the team in tackles, and I was also the kicker, so he’s not going to top that,” Fisher said with a smile. “He wants to break my single-season rushing record (over 1,800 yards), but I don’t see it happening.”
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