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Harris' punt return revitalizes team
Sunday, September 14, 2008
OXFORD — If you were to put a face on what the Miami RedHawks went through against upstart Charleston Southern, it would have to be the tightly braided visage of sophomore receiver Eugene Harris.
He personified Miami's effort Saturday, Sept. 13, at Yager Stadium.
Early in the second quarter, his momentary gaffe on a punt return — waggling his hand to wave teammates away so he could field the ball and return it well past midfield — caused his effort to be wiped out.
"I forgot there's a new rule where you can't do any hand signals," he'd shrug afterward.
Then there was the third-quarter catch that took him well into Charleston territory where he promptly fumbled. Six plays later the Buccaneers scored again to put them up 27-17.
Yet those two miscues were nowhere near as glaring as the flub sandwiched between them.
Midway through the second quarter, Miami had the ball on the Charleston 5-yard line when quarterback Dan Raudabaugh found Harris coming across the back of the end zone all alone.
Harris led the 'Hawks in receptions last year. After the first two games this season, he was the only receiver with a touchdown catch. So when Raudabaugh saw him, he was certain he had a score.
"I figured the ball was going right where I wanted it ... so I headed over to the sidelines and was about to give Coach a high-five when he says, 'He dropped it!'
"Eugene looked at me and his eyes were as big as ... " The quarterback shaped his hands like a saucer: "He was stunned he couldn't do it."
Harris agreed: "I was so anxious to get the ball. I was ready to celebrate with the team, too ... And when I came to the sideline (Raudabaugh) just slapped me on the helmet and said, 'Get 'em next time.' And believe me, I knew we needed something."
That's an understatement.
With the two setbacks to end last year and two more — against Vanderbilt and Michigan — to start this season, Miami had lost four in a row.
But falling to Charleston Southern, a I-AA — or as they're officially known now, a Football Championship Subdivision team — would be Miami's worst loss, maybe, since losing to DePauw in 1944.
The Buccaneers have never beaten a Division I school. They've played their first three games this season on the road. At home they practice on the front lawn of their school because their practice field is still being refurbished.
And yet against all those odds, they came into Oxford and outplayed, outcoached and, most noticeably, outhustled Miami through much of the game.
And that's when Harris became the focal point again.
Late in the third quarter, he saw another Charleston Southern punt headed right at him.
"I knew I had to do something ... right now. And when I got the ball, I saw I had just two defenders to beat and then there was great daylight ahead."
And with a couple of jukes and some big blocks down the left side of the field, he found that daylight and scored, cutting the Buccaneers' lead to three — and instantly revitalizing his own team.
Miami would score twice more and win, 38-27.
"It was good to see him bounce back and lift us," Miami head coach Shane Montgomery said. "He could just as easily have worried about it and kept his head down."
Instead, Harris looked up and because of it you saw his face afterward. Beneath the braids was the look of relief, the faint smile of victory.
It was the face of Miami.
