Reggie Harris is West Valley’s Workhorse
2019 West Valley (Wash.) running back Reggie Harris is having a career year in his final season with the Rams.
Right now he’s leading the entire Big Nine conference in total yardage with 1,234. The next closest is over 200 yards behind him with 1,031.
For a West Valley team that’s 2-5 and all but eliminated from playoff contention, Harris just keeps chugging along.
“We knew going into the season the offensive line was going to be the strength of our team,” Harris said. “As long as they keep doing well, I keep doing well.”
One of the biggest topics following this season is whether or not he’s going to be named first team all conference running back.
Last year he earned that honor, but that was also on a state bound team.
Very rarely does a team at the bottom of the standings produce a first team all league performer.
An exception may need to be made this year for Harris; both his yardage and touchdowns are actually higher than they were last year.
A huge reason for his gaudy numbers is the sheer experience he has in West Valley’s spread attack. Anytime you have three full years in an offense, the game will naturally slow down for you.
He got his big break early in his sophomore season, when he played well enough to earn a spot in the rotation. Since then he’s been averaging over 150 touches a season.
Playing college football has always been a goal for Harris, and he has an idea of where he wants to end up.
“I’d like to play college football in Arizona,” Harris said. “They have a tremendous JuCo scene down there, and I think I’d fit in well.”
There are many reasons why Harris plans on making this move. He already has family down there, and he’s also ready to get out of the cold in Washington.
Something that people might not know about junior college football is often times it’s on the players to get their name out there.
Right now Harris being proactive reaching out to teams in order to increase his chances of getting picked up. A big part of that has been sending his film out to different schools.
Arizona has a reputation for having one of the most competitive junior college football scenes in the country. Harris says that’s what he's looking for.
The skill set is absolutely there to thrive at the college level.
One of the most overlooked traits in a running back is having the killer mindset. Everytime Harris touches the ball he is aggressive getting north-south. Through his sheer volume of touches, he’s developed tremendous vision that allows him to consistently gain positive yardage.
Something he’ll have to work on this off-season is building his body up more. Right now he’s 5-9 170 pounds; adding 10 to 15 pounds on top of that will make him more durable in his desert battles.
Harris still has three games left in his senior year. Despite the tough season, he still enjoys every moment being able to suit up for West Valley. He’s also highly optimistic that this program has some great years ahead of them.
“We had our freshman quarterback Isaac Madrigal make his first start last Friday and he played well,” Harris said. “The classes coming up look good, they just need to keep hitting the weight room.”
The biggest goal he has right now is finishing the season on a four game win streak.
Even though his team isn’t in contention, this is a player you’ll want to monitor as he continues his breakout campaign.