Javon Harris owns up to his living nightmare
Published: 11/21/2011 8:19 PM
Last Modified: 11/22/2011 10:12 AM
I'm not here to sugarcoat Javon Harris' living nightmare at Baylor. I'm not here to scold you for making jokes about him, or directing all of your hostility for what happened in Oklahoma's 45-38 loss toward him.
You want to go there, those are your issues to work through, not mine.
What I can do is show you something.
The beat reporters gathered in OU's interview room Monday night after practice. Corey Nelson walked in first, around 6:05. Bob Stoops came in right after Nelson. And then, right after Stoops, Harris walked in.
He took a seat. He didn't droop his head, didn't scowl. He simply waited a moment for me to wander over, along with the Oklahoman's Travis Haney. We shook hands. I thanked him for coming in.
I really meant that, given that many college kids who went through what Harris did in Waco would rather beeline from the practice field to the locker room, from the locker room to the dinner table, and from the dinner table to the apartment, the door locked behind them.
And honestly, I wouldn't blame them one bit.
But here he was, ready to not just accept my first question about what went wrong at Baylor, but answer it, thoughtfully, his eyes directed at mine, not the carpet.
"Just bad eyes. Getting my eyes in the wrong places," Harris said. "You can't do that in the defensive backfield. That's something I've got to work on as a player. Knowing the type of players they have and their skill set, that's something that can't happen. I went into the game trying to do more than what I was supposed to. When it happens, when you get your eyes in bad places, something can happen that fast."
Travis and I peppered him with questions for about five minutes.
Were you misaligned?
"I wouldn't say it was misalignments. It was just breaking down when I shouldn't or not staying on top. That's one thing that happened with me. When they do what they (show) on film, you've got to know what's coming at you."
Was it hard to watch their touchdowns?
"The first thing is you know you've messed up. It hits you hard, knowing a big play is happening. It's like somebody has daggered you real quick. I've gotta keep playing, though. As a defensive back, you've got to let it go. Me as a player, I took it hard. Looking back, seeing a guy run right by me, about to score a touchdown, knowing that's detrimental to a team, that's hard."
Has it been hard to take?
"Oh yeah. But at the same time, after it happened, you've got to move on to Iowa State. Me as a player, I've got to go into practice and work on what I didn't do the week before."
Where you in man coverage on their touchdowns or were you supposed to have help?
"I was more in man. I might have had some help underneath, or supposed to have help outside. But it was really me playing poor technique and trying to do more than I should."
Are the problems the same as they were earlier this year?
"It's looking in the backfield. That's not my key. Getting my eyes in the wrong places. I look back on all the plays I have made, my eyes are in the right place, I'm doing what I'm supposed to, not trying to do too much. I see something and I feel like I'm about to make a play, and they break off and do something else. It's more of the same stuff."
DBs are programmed to have short memories. How's yours right now?
"You've gotta let it go. You've gotta have a short-term memory. Once you let it go, you move on. Go to the next week. After a poor game against Tulsa, and came back against Florida State. I put it behind me, went into the next week and tried to go on from there."
As happens on Monday nights, I moved on to other players. But I kept my eyes on Harris out of curiosity. How long would he hang in?
I was in a crowd around Brent Venables near the door when Harris walked by and toward the locker room. I glanced at the clock over the door. 6:30.
Twenty-five minutes. A couple reporters would drop off, a couple more would come by. "Sorry if you've already been asked this, but ..."
He stood in for nearly a half-hour.
Nothing Harris said will change the way he played Saturday night. Your feelings for how he played likely won't change either.
I just thought you should know he wants to play better going forward.
I wonder if you'll feel better about him, if not his football.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
