He accepted a football scholarship from New Mexico State University. As a sophomore, he posted 36 carries for 250 yards at running back. As a junior, he was moved to the "lonesome end" position in the team's wishbone offense, tallying 29 receptions for 701 yards and 7 touchdowns.
As a senior, he registered 34 receptions for 607 yards and 5 touchdowns, ranking fifth in the nation in kickoff returns, including a 104-yard touchdown return against the University of Tulsa.
Even though he had few opportunities to prove his true worth in the Aggies run-oriented offense, he finished his college career with 89 receptions for 1,562 yards (17.5-yard average) and 13 touchdowns.
Professional career
Miami Dolphins (first stint)
Harris was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the third round (80th overall) of the 1976 NFL draft. He wore number 26 during his rookie season, starting two games at wide receiver out of 12 contests. He finished with 372 yards (third on the team) on 22 receptions and one touchdown. He also stood out as a return specialist, posting 559 yards on 17 kickoffs and a 32.9 yards per return (led the NFL).[citation needed]
In 1977, he switched his jersey number to 82. He appeared in 14 games (4 starts), finishing second on the team in with 34 receptions for 601 yards, 5 touchdowns and a 17.7 yards average per catch (led the team).[citation needed]
Throughout his first years, the Dolphins were a run-oriented team and his role in the passing offense was limited to being the team's deep threat, generally averaging over 17 yards per catch. In 1979, Harris and Nat Moore set a franchise wide receiver tandem with a combined 90 receptions for 1,638 yards. The next year Bruce Hardy passed him on the depth chart at receiver.[citation needed]
In 1981, he regained his starting role, posting 911 yards (led the team) on 53 receptions (led the team) for the second-best total in franchise history, while playing with 2 different starting quarterbacks. Harris was involved in the hook and lateral play at the end of the first half of the 1981 AFC Division Playoff game versus the San Diego Chargers, that became known as The Epic in Miami. Harris received a 40-yard pass from quarterbackDon Strock and then lateralled the ball to running backTony Nathan, who ran the ball 25 yards for a touchdown. The Chargers eventually won the game in overtime.[1]
In 1982, he established a franchise record with a 25.3-yard return average on 56 kickoffs. As a receiver he was second on the team with 22 receptions for 331 yards and one touchdown. The next year, he was passed over on the depth chart by Mark Duper and suffered his worst performance up to that point in his career.[2]
During his time with the Dolphins, Harris had frequent disagreements with Don Shula and their many meetings prompted his teammates to name one of the chairs in the head coach's office "Duriel's Chair".[3]
On March 27, 1984, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a fourth round draft choice (#91-Mike Smith).[4] He left as the second-ranked receiver in Dolphins history with 266 receptions for 4,510 yards. He also took great care of the football, having only 2 fumbles in 8 years.
Cleveland Browns
In 1984, despite being the second leading receiver for the Cleveland Browns (32 catches for 512 yards), Harris was waived when Marty Schottenheimer replaced Sam Rutigliano as the team's head coach after 11 games, because Schottenheimer considered that he dropped too many passes.[5] His best game came against the New England Patriots, when he had 8 receptions for 136 yards.
