Back with style: Harris brings ability, personality
Sean Harris has spent a lot of time away from the basketball court. Now that he’s healed and healthy, The Aggie forward is looking to make this a senior year to remember.
Harris suffered a season-ending knee injury when he tore his ACL in preseason workouts in his first year at USU before the 2012-13 season. When you combine this with his two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Honduras, it will have been almost four years since Harris has seen the hardwood at the collegiate level. Needless to say, the forward from Rocklin, California is ready to get back in action.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played,” Harris said. “It’s nice to be back playing and just giving it my best everyday… It’s nice to at least have an opportunity to maybe get in the game, and to help the team out. It’s just exciting to be playing, and there’s nothing more fun than playing basketball.”
As Harris gets ready to start the season and be a contributing factor for the Aggies in their first year in the Mountain West Conference, he will be grateful to have a healthy knee. Harris has been wearing a brace on his knee all preseason, and the road to recovery has been a long one for the power forward.
“It’s doing good, it’s feeling strong,” Harris said about his knee. “I don’t really need to do too much maintenance on it now. I’m just playing and practicing. The biggest part for me now is just getting to play, and it’s nice because coach gives me reps in practice and when I get those reps, I get a little bit better. That’s all I can ask for, to get a little bit better as time goes on.”
Harris, who is one of five seniors on the experienced Aggie squad, has put in a lot of work and rehab to get his knee to where it is now.
“I’ve just done all of the rehab, and all of the physical therapy,” Harris said. “Just all of that, all of the little things that you have to do everyday. I’ve done the icing and the getting warmed up and stuff.”
When he’s been healthy, Harris has had a successful career. While he has yet to play a regular season game in an Aggie uniform, Harris was very successful at the junior college level. He played for Yuba College for two years before his mission, averaging 14.9 points and 11.7 rebounds per game in his freshman year at Yuba. Harris missed the larger part of his sophomore year at Yuba, after injuring his knee for the first time five games into his second season.
After signing to play for Bradley University while on his mission, Harris’ career plan changed after Bradley’s head coach lost his job and Harris was left to make a decision. He came out on a visit to USU and decided he wanted to be an Aggie to finish his college career. It’s a decision Harris has been pleased he made.
“The coaches called me up about a week after I got home from my mission,” Harris said. “They offered me a scholarship out here, so I came on a visit out here. I really liked it. When I was leaving, it felt like I was leaving home, and I was only here for like two days.”
“The community is my favorite part about being an Aggie,” he said. “Wherever you go, there’s just so many people that support the Aggies. That’s the biggest thing, that the community just has our back no matter what.”
Harris is definitely a recognizable figure for Aggie fans. The 6-foot-7, 220-pound redhead is the type of guy who stands out in a crowd. Harris sports his curly red hair in a tall flattop haircut. Along with teammate Jalen Moore, who sports a large afro, Harris has a hairstyle to remember. When asked who has the better hair between himself and Moore, Harris was quick to respond.
“Jalen’s ‘fro is better than my flattop,” he said. “It’s more of a ’70s style, so it has more value to it, although you don’t see too many red flattops. You see a lot more afros than red flattops. Either way, it’s good to have both on the team.”
With the combined powers of his healthy knee, his signature hairstyle, his hard-nosed style of play and his senior leadership, Harris is expecting to make his last year as an Aggie his most remarkable.
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Twitter: @DreamBreather