Atnaf DeShawn Harris (born February 27, 1979) is a former American football wide receiver. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Fresno State University. In his career, Harris has played for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, Denver Broncos, San Jose SaberCats, and

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

High school career

Harris attended Edison High School where he recorded 34 receptions for 667 yards and six touchdowns as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He earned First-team All-North Yosemite League honors and named to the '' Fresno Bees All-Star team.

College career

Harris played three seasons at Fresno State, where he recorded 26 receptions for 285 yards and four touchdowns in 23 games. He recorded 17 receptions 198 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman. He was a teammate of

Rodney Wright Rodney Bernard Wright, Jr. (born November 28, 1979) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State. He is the father of ...

, future San Jose SaberCats teammate, for three seasons. He transferred to

Cal State-Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

for his senior season but the school dropped their football program that year. He then went back to Fresno State where he graduated with a degree in Sociology.

Professional career

NFL Draft

Harris was not expected to get drafted in the NFL, which he was not. However, he did get attention from some pro scouts that were at the Fresno State pro day to watch quarterback David Carr, who was chosen first overall by the expansion

, by running a 4.42

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

and a vertical jump of 43.5".

National Football League (2002–2004)

After going undrafted in the

2002 NFL Draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

, Harris was signed by the Houston Texans, who had drafted his college teammate Carr, on May 22. He spent time on the teams

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

before being signed to the active roster in November. He played in one regular season game as a rookie, a start in the regular season finale, in which he recorded one receptions for eight yards. After was waived by the Texans in the final cuts before the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, and was signed by the Denver Broncos in December 2003. He then spent the season on the Broncos practice squad, but was waived on August 21, 2004.

Arena Football League (2006–2008)

San Jose SaberCats (2006)

Harris signed to the practice squad of the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League on November 3, 2005, and did not play in any games that season.

Arizona Rattlers (2007–2008)

He then signed with the

after spending the 2006 season on the San Jose practice squad. As a rookie in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Harris played in eight games, starting three, and finished third on the team with 41 receptions and 595 yards and nine touchdowns. His 14.5 yards-per-catch average was first on the team, and was 11th on the Rattlers all-time single season list. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Harris played in just two games, both against his former team, the SaberCats. He recorded six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two tackles. He was released by the Rattlers after the season.

Personal life

Harris enjoys playing video games in his free time, his favorite being '' Madden NFL''. He hopes to pursue a career in coaching high school football. Harris is married and has two sons: Jalen and Kamar.

Notes

External links

Arizona Rattlers bio

Stats at ArenaFan

at Pro Football Reference
ESPN.com bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Atnaf Deshawn 1979 births Living people Players of American football from Fresno, California American football wide receivers California State University, Northridge alumni Fresno State Bulldogs football players Cal State Northridge Matadors football players Houston Texans players San Jose SaberCats players Arizona Rattlers players