Dallas, Harris Form Dynamic Duo
By Christy Cabrera Chirinos
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Their personalities, they joke, couldn’t be more different.
DeeJay Dallas is the experienced veteran; the gregarious leader who, more often than not, has plenty to say both on and off the field. Cam’Ron Harris, meanwhile, is the soft-spoken sophomore working to continue building his college football resume and find his voice in the locker room.
Together they’ve not only forged a bond that has not only made them friends, but better running backs who have already found ways to make impact plays for the Hurricanes.
“One thing that happens with running backs, in my experience having been around some really, really good ones, [is] that when one is on the sideline watching the other run hard, they kind of realize, ‘When I get out there, I better run just as determined, just as hard,'” offensive coordinator Dan Enos said. “That’s what we tell the guys: If you want more carries, you need to earn more carries. And I think both of those guys have played very physically. I think they’ve run hard. … Both of those guys, we’ve felt really, really good about their performance.”
Through Miami’s first two games, Dallas and Harris have combined for 41 carries, 276 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. And as Miami has weathered two tough losses by a combined seven points, the running back duo has been a particularly bright spot for the offense.
But Dallas and Harris’ fast start shouldn’t come as a surprise, given what each was able to do last season while playing behind former Hurricanes standout and current Seattle Seahawks running back Travis Homer.
Dallas finished with 617 yards and six touchdowns, while Harris turned things on toward the end of the year with big performances against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech that helped him push his average to 5.9 yards per carry.
In the spring, as Enos began implementing his offense, the two backs began adapting to a more downhill running style, a change Dallas has said made a difference, especially for him.
“[Coach Enos] has brainwashed us with that. I feel like from freshman year to now, I run completely different. I run like a new running back, I don’t know,” Dallas said. “But that north-south mentality, people get scared of that. … Cam’s gotten some people with it. And when I saw Cam doing it, I was like, ‘I should try that.’ … We’ve got to give it to people whenever we can. The brainwashing has worked. Cam already had that mentality, but I wasn’t accustomed to running like that. Now, I feel like a complete back and that north-south mentality has helped.”
But it’s not just their effective running that have made Dallas and Harris impressive early.
Both say they have worked on their pass protection skills, each determined try and do his part to help make life easier for redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams.
“I take a lot of pride in my quarterback. That’s my quarterback. That’s like my little brother,” Harris said. “I’ve got to take care of him. I don’t want anybody hitting him. I don’t want anybody touching him. That’s the mentality I have and if a defender comes and tries to tackle him or tries to slam him, I’m going to try and break it up. I’m going to try and boom him before he even tries to touch him. I don’t want anyone touching my quarterback.”
Added Dallas, “That’s really what we pride ourselves on. It’s not about the stats. It’s about taking care of each other and on the field, just doing our jobs. We take pride in being physical out of the backfield. I always say, running backs get got. So you have to get people more than you get got. That’s what we try to do.”
There is, of course, also some friendly competition between the two running backs, both on the field and in the meeting room. Words are good-naturedly exchanged. Bragging rights matter.
Their friendship, though, remains strong through it all.
“It’s kind of like night and day with us, but our different personalities make us closer. I just try to get him to talk more and he kind of tries to get me to shut up,” Dallas quipped. “It’s fun.”
Said Harris, “It really started last year. There were a lot of guys from me to learn from, but I really learned from DeeJay. He was in the same situation that I’d never been in. Everything I did, I learned from him.”
Harris then smiled.
“Me and DeeJay are like thunder and lightning, but the thing is, I’m lightning. I’m faster.”
The competition continues.
