Erick Anthony Harris (born December 17, 1982) is an American former

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

.Erick Harris
/ref> He was signed by the Amarillo Dusters as a street free agent in 2005. 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 ...

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

. Harris was also a member of the

Alabama Steeldogs The Alabama Steeldogs, originally known as the Birmingham Steeldogs, were incorporated in 2000 as one of the charter teams in the AF2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League. Entering their eighth season as of 2007, they were the l ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena. ...

, Cleveland Gladiators \, Kansas City Command,

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

, and Tampa Bay Storm.

College career

As a sophomore wide receiver in 2002, Harris led Liberty in receiving with 24 catches for 480 yards and three touchdowns. In 2003 Harris moved to the defensive side of the ball, and tied for a team-high three interceptions in both 2003 and 2004. In 2004, he became the first player in

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

history to return two punts for scores in a single game, doing so against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on November 6. Along with his conference record, Harris also received national Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

Professional career

Harris began his professional career with the Amarillo Dusters of the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

in 2005, playing in two games and recording 4.5 tackles while adding three catches for 31 yards. In 2006, he joined the

where he played wide receiver and defensive back. In 14 regular-season games Harris totaled 25 receptions, 261 receiving yards, six receiving touchdowns, 41 tackles and one pass breakup. He also led the Steeldogs with 26 kickoff returns for 426 yards.

Philadelphia Eagles

In 2006 and 2007, Harris was named to the practice squad for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

’s Philadelphia Eagles as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

for both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Prior to the 2007 NFL season he was allocated by the Eagles to the Amsterdam Admirals of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

where he logged two interceptions before returning to Philadelphia for training camp. Harris was cut at the end of training camp but called back to the team in Week 6, though later released again in Week 9.

Kansas City Chiefs

On December 7, 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs added Harris to their practice squad, where he participated in

OTA OTA or ota may stand for: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Off the Air'', an Adult Swim television series * Otakon, an annual anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland Electronics, science, and technology * Ochratoxin A (also termed OTA), a mycoto ...

s but was ultimately released the week prior to training camp.

Arena Football

In 2009, Harris signed with the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

's Manchester Wolves prior to Week 12, playing in five regular season games and one playoff game. During those six games he recorded three interceptions including two pick-sixes (interception returns for touchdowns), four pass break-ups and 30 tackles. He began 2010 with the Cleveland Gladiators and participated in their training camp, but he was released in Week 4 due to a quadriceps injury. In 2011 as a member of the Kansas City Command, Harris split time at defensive back and jack linebacker. He played in 10 of 18 games for the Command, combining for 25 tackles, five pass break-ups, and one interception, along with returning a fumble for a touchdown. In his final season Harris signed with the Orlando Predators in 2012. He started the last six games of the season at jack linebacker, recording 30 tackles, two pass break-ups, two fumble recoveries, and one interception.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Erick 1982 births Alabama Steeldogs players Amarillo Dusters players American football safeties Amsterdam Admirals players Cleveland Gladiators players Grand Rapids Rampage players Kansas City Chiefs players Kansas City Command players Liberty Flames football players Living people Manchester Wolves players Orlando Predators players Philadelphia Eagles players People from Crestview, Florida Players of American football from Florida Rhein Fire players