Saying farewell to the flat top
Everybody has Saturday marked down on their calendar as Stew Morrill’s final home game at Utah State, but he will be sharing the spotlight with a 6-foot-7, 230 pound man wielding a golden flat-top.
Sean Harris is wrapping up his collegiate career as a sixth-year senior. As a captain of the men’s basketball team and its only senior, Harris’ leadership has been critical to Utah State’s success this season.
“It’s a really long season,” said Harris. “It’s important to make sure everybody stays loose.”
After Utah State’s win over UNLV, Morrill explained how important Harris’ leadership is on the team.
“Sean is going to go in and shake it up,” Morrill said. “He’s going to be in there and play hard. That’s kinda what he’s all about. He’s a hustle guy, an energy guy, a great leader for our team. It doesn’t matter if he plays two minutes or 20 minutes — he’s the same. Boy, is that a luxury as a coach.”
Harris is from Roseville, California and started his playing days at Rocklin High School. In his senior year, Harris averaged over 16 points, eight rebounds to go along with nearly three steals and two blocks per game. He was, unsurprisingly, named MVP of his high school conference and was named to the All-Metro First-Team that year.
After high school Harris took a two-year break to serve an LDS mission. He returned in 2011 and began playing at Yuba College, a junior college in Marysville, California.
Harris continued his success while at Yuba. He averaged nearly 15 points and more than 11 rebounds per game as a freshman. He led the 49ers to a 32-4 season while winning the Bay Valley Conference Championship. As a freshman Harris was runner-up to the Bay Valley Player of the Year.
The leadership skills Harris brings to Utah State go back to his time in junior college. Yuba head coach Doug Cornelius described Harris as the glue of the locker room.
“He’s probably one of the best kids that I’ve been around in my whole life,” Cornelius said. “He’s a big time leader. He keeps everybody loose. He’s funny. He pushes everybody. He keeps everybody motivated.”
During his second season at Yuba College, Harris tore the ACL in his left knee, which ended his season prematurely. He only played in five games as a sophomore but still averaged nine points and seven rebounds.
The 49ers lost the championship game by seven points that season, but Cornelius believes that Harris would’ve been a difference-maker if he were healthy.
“I’ll swear to my grave that if we had Sean Harris playing, we would’ve won the state championship that year,” said Cornelius. “It was devastating for us to lose him. I’ll look back on that injury for the rest of my life.”
Harris tore his ACL on his left knee again during a preseason practice at his first year at Utah State.
“It was just a normal basketball move,” said Harris. “There was no contact. Nobody fell on me.”
Harris’ recovery from his second ACL tear didn’t go very smoothly.
“Recovery was tough,” said Harris. “I had soreness in my back, achilles and legs. It took me about a year to get back to 100 percent.”
In his first season back at full health, Harris is averaging a little more than 12 minutes per game off the bench, scoring two points and averaging a little more than two rebounds per game. This season the Aggies are 18-11 and are tied for fourth place in the Mountain West after being picked to finish tenth.
“No one wants to finish tenth,” said Harris after beating San Jose State near his hometown in California. “For us it’s not about where we finish at the end of the season. It’s more about how we’re playing as a team. As we keep getting better as we’ve been doing, then those wins are going to keep filling up the win column. We’re not as worried about winning. We should be, and we do want to win, but our biggest thing is just keep getting better.”
For the big man who is more focused on the team than himself, his final game at Utah State will be played against Colorado State on Saturday in the Spectrum.
— joebaraiolo@gmail.com
Twitter: @joefish_2