The Walker Harris Era in NCCU Has Been 3 Years in the Making| Walker Harris Interview

it's officially the Walker Harris era in North Carolina Central and I have the pleasure of being joined by Harris himself to break down what he learned from davius Richard and how the last three years have prepared him for this exact moment oh yeah it's locked on HBCU play my [Music] music you are locked on HBCU your daily podcast covering HBCU new sports part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's going on family welcome back to another episode of the locked on HBC UPI cast your number one daily OneStop shop for everything HBCU Athletics Monday through Friday part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and I of course Sam Darien gray aka the mouth of the South Texas Southern Alum and former TSU Herald sports editor and current contributing writer at USA today's Saints wire thank you for going on this journey with me making locked on HBCU your first listen of the day every day and remember just because the mic cuts off does not mean that the journey is over just means the time to follow me on Twitter South exclusives starts with an S and ends with an s today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use the code locked on College to get $20 off your first purchase now Walker Harris it is his time with North Carolina Central he will be the leading man in the backfield at quarterback after waiting his turn patiently let's break down the last three years and how they've looked for Harris being behind davius Richard some of the other pieces on the team that make his job so much more easier and then also we wrap it up with a look at what does central look like with Harris at the helm from Harris himself okay Walker so you are the new starting North Carolina Central quarterback but the majority of your time at Central was spent as a backup so I want to tell that full story from start to where we are today so we're going to focus a little bit on those backup days briefly before we get to where you are today right and over the last three years you're talented I hear everybody say everybody says man Walker Harris is like a starting quarterback but you had to sit for three years was that ever difficult for you at times to sit down and say all right I'm not playing but I know where I want to be I mean yeah yeah yeah for sure I mean obviously you know everybody wants to come in uh come into college and play right away you know that's everybody's goal you know when people are out picking a school getting recruited you know a lot of guys think that um or a lot of guys what they try and do is get go to the school where they're going to play the earliest right um my situation my situation was a little bit different um coming out of high school Central was my only division one scholarship so um jumped at that jumped at the opportunity came uh new peeee new peew from last year um I was I was excited to come in and compete really um so I came in um and Davis Richard I mean obviously everybody knows about Peewee um the animal Beast um so yeah uh first year uh started the second game uh peew got hurt that first game so the second game I started so that's my first college football game ever was this second overall game um so that was an experience with it in itself but uh I could I can definitely say that I wasn't as ready as I I wish I would have been um I mean you know I was young I was young I was I was a little at the time so that's just you know that's that's how it was um and then uh you know that second year was when peew really took off you know Peewee became a a premier quarterback in at the FCS level so um my mindset you know my mindset was really just compete with pey as much as I can you know iron sharpens iron um I live by that um so my in my mind I'm just trying to I'm doing everything I can to take PE spot and you know with his spot being as solidified as it was it just made me work harder that's kind of how I looked at it it just made me work work harder um and when my opportunity does come make the most of make it make it make it hard for uh for a coach want to pull you off the field really and you know oh go ahead sorry no you good go ahead now you good go ahead so I I've heard this before I was listening to a Cam Newton interview when he was at Florida he was behind Tim TBO right he know who Tim TBO is in a way it's very similar to where I see you today hopefully you know Cam Newton and that type of success is upon you but he was like man I always felt like I could go be the starter at Florida if I wanted to and it's it's one of those things where from the outside looking in people may feel like oh well he's behind davus Richard so that makes it easier because at least he knows he's behind the legend and Richard definitely is a legend does that actually make it easier to sit down when you say okay at least I know I'm behind somebody great no no I mean no you know you never want to because I feel like that is just kind of like complacency you know I don't never I told myself I never wanted to feel complacent I never wanted to get comfortable in the situation I was because at the quarterback position you know those last those three years all it took all it could God than thank God it didn't but could have been one play and I would I would have been in there so um no I definitely want to say that was the that was the mindset it was never to get comfortable or complacent it was always just every day just trying to get better really yeah and as it should be but the day and age of the transfer portal it's very easy once you start believing in yourself and like all right I'm ready to be started you could have easily said all right Central is the person who or the team who gave me this offer coming out of high school but I feel ready to go somewhere else and get my chance but you didn't do that why not you know I think um coming from high school to college um one thing that I really what I really learned what I really thought was valuable especially in the college football program was just the culture you know we I don't know if you see my shirt culture over scheme you know that's something that we really live by here at Central um so it's not just it's about what you're doing it's not it's not about just the player that you are it's about the person that you are and then on top of that it's about how you how are you going about your day-to-day work you know what's your what's your coaching your day-to-day when it's at Tuesday in in February or may or March whatever when when season's not really when season's not here what is your what is your uh day-to-day schedule looking like how are you moving how are you how are you operating what are you doing to get better that day um so that had a big part of it too that culture that we have and that's that's on the whole team that's from top to bottom from the program um and then um you know also man shout out shout out TC our our strength coach he he pushes the culture um he he push's he's a huge part of the culture here I mean every every day he's pushing it he's pushing it he's challenging you and everything that he can do um so that's a big part of it too and then also really the biggest part was the coaching coaching staff you know um yeah coming out of high school uh only division one opportunity So that obviously that that means a lot to me this program this University means a lot to me um but that coaching staff man coach Le um coach he's a guru he's he's never had I've never had a question that he hasn't had to answer to he's never I've never asked to watch film and him be like no I don't have I don't have the time today and that's kind of like that's kind of like how like I'm a I'm a nerd about football you know like I'm always trying to I I don't do a whole lot outside of football for real I'm not gonna lie like I'm just trying I'm trying to do ball I'm trying to play ball I'm trying to right watch film trying whatever I got to do because you know you only get one shot at this football Thing Once once your once your clock is up and you didn't make most of it that's on you so I'm just trying I'm trying to make the most of it so with Coach Leon always being there um coaching me and he coaches me hard too coaches everybody hard he coaches me hard he's not we what we have a we have a saying the standard is the standard so if we if we doing anything that doesn't live up to the standard that's a problem it's not okay and so um with Coach Le only that was that was a huge reason why I stayed because I I trust him um I love him I mean that's that's my coach so and uh with Coach Oliver as well coach Oliver as well there's not a not another coaching staff I want to play for you mentioned about you only have an x amount of time right I was curious what your eligibility did you get a red shirt that first year at any point in your time yeah I did get a red shirt that first year so that so that so I graduated high school 20 um but that 2020 season obviously was Co so that was year for everybody and then we came back 2021 um I registered that year okay 22 was my red Shir freshman year yes sir okay so you should you should have two years of Eligibility after this correct yeah that's what I that's what I thought right now one last question about the backup days before we start moving forward is I'm an interview guy like I really do enjoy to watch those so I was watching a Joe burrow interview right and he talked about his time at Ohio State where he spent I think three years as a backup before moving on to LSU and becoming the burough that we know but he talked about how when he was at Ohio State as a backup it forced him to be just one of the guys and then once he became a starter it was like okay well I'm not changing that mindset there's no idea of any kind of special treatment or anything of the sort was that a similar experience for you spending time as a backup and now becoming a starter um no I mean I don't think so I mean obviously being the backup the pressure of being the starter is not there but like like I was saying earlier like I kind of I knew my time was gonna come and the main thing for me was when my time does come I don't want to be I don't want to have to change who I am change how I move change how I work change how I operate because I want to be the same person that I am that rest your freshman that rest your sophomore year as I am right now um so no I want to say I want to say that now let's move forward right let's look at the fact that you are about to become a starter and let's look at the guys that you're throwing to because stepping in from the backup role do you have a lot of experience throwing to these players that you're now throwing to as a starter from years prior uh I mean yeah yeah I mean you look at our you look at our uh our roster we got a lot of guys returning so uh got it obvious sticks out uh wae Davis you know me and him we've been we came in together right we've been working out we've been we've been locked in since since we got here um that's another guy he just he just he work he work his tail off every day um and that's the guy that's in my class um also Andrew Smith guy in my class uh chy spikes um Daryl Taylor um these are all guys that we can play on the outside um who am I missing that's the thing man we're deep we're deep at receiver man from the slot man uh thinking about Marquel quick uh chance Peterson um real route Runners got maai wall um shoot man and then you know from a quarterback perspective your best friend is your running back and you know I think we got the best running back in probably FCS football honestly um Jamar Taylor man that man can he can do everything he can run the ball in between the gas he can go outside he can catch he can catch the ball he can make anybody on defense Miss um he's a problem so that's that's and then I mean shoot let's talk about running backs we got Jamar Taylor then we got um Chris mosa problem fast boy fast can move um then we got AJ Rogers who's that's like our Thunder that's our Thunder back he gon he gonna run he gonna run you over so um we got weapons is oh and then tit shoot let me just talk about everybody shoot tight ends man we we're deep at tight end too we're deep we're deep um starting off we got Luke bracie uh he's a problem man he's problem in the blocking game he's problem in the passing game Kyle Morgan problem in the blocking game problem in the passing game uh miles Campbell the blocking game uh he's fast too miles can run he can move um we got Javon lvll another older guy um that's a great athlete U great on his blocks great on his routes great hands um shoot yeah man that's really bad that's really about it man we got we got we got ball players man we got some we got some guys that can do something with the ball when we do when we get it into their hands now I told you before this however we going we going right so we were going to go to Supporting Cast and pieces on the team a little bit later but how about we just do that in segment as we continue with locked on HBCU today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app right now if you haven't done it already download the app ASAP now with that you can go to a North Carolina Central game matter of fact if you're in Miami you can go to the central versus Alabama State game you can go to the orange blossom classic if you're in the area matter of fact game time will allow you to do it at the best prices out there they have Zone Deals they have Flash Deals I love the Zone deals because sometimes I know around where I want to sit but I may not know specifically they're saying we're going to get you the best deal just tell us the area get us the area and we'll put you on a specific location at the best price possible there's no one that's going to beat that there's no one's going to make that as easy as game time 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everything on the FBS level with Spencer mclin whether that is conference realignment we're going into week one we have a bunch of new teams in new conferences let's see how they turn out and we can listen to the breakdown by Spencer on locked on college football part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day right now I'm joined by North Carolina Central quarterback Walker Harris and we love the the talent and we love the skill players at Central right now right you mentioned one guy Jamari Taylor who I think he's kind of similar to you in this way where you're both stepping into bigger roles than you were last year right no davus Richard no mie CER now it is Walker Harris and Jamari Taylor what is that what is that tandem feeling like stepping into 2024 man it feels good man it feels good we came in uh that's another guy came in uh a year after me so I got one year in one year in front of him um but man we've been we've been rocking out for a while now um me and Jamar we locked in and we I know what he likes he knows what I like um pass protection he's he's locked in on pass protection I mean shoot man that's that's my guy that's my guy and you know one thing I really have to Credit Central for is their ability to recruit because we pay attention to the 2019 class right that's Richard I think mooki might have came in I think he was a transfer but I think he came in that year as well then you look at 20 we got you we got uh uh Wen Davis we have is it Smith I think Smith came in with you that year too right so you're looking at a lot of and then you got Jamari Taylor the following year so we Gotta Give coach Oliver and and the crew a lot of credit for their ability to recruit players that just keeps going keeps going and and I honestly when going in I lost where I was headed with it but let's talk about those guys with Smith and and Davis how does the relationship work because you did come in together you guys probably have been tight forever does that immediately lead to chemistry on the field now that you're going into your first year as a starting quarterback I think I think what's going to lead into success is just the work that we put in you know was never like um shoot and I just shoot I say like like during the Summers man during the Summers like every day we out there throwing we out there uh watching film like was whatever it is we always been working and that was even when it was it was it was clear who the starter was um but we still we were putting in that work because you know I always wanted to be ready I wanted to be ready so I was trying to get in throws with guys who's gonna be on the field so um yeah no I think that chemistry is chemistry is not going to be the problem and you speak about the offense you look at Leone he's been called one of the upand cominging offensive coaches in the in the FCS level I know you agree right how has he made you a better quarterback man first of all I think coach Leon I think he probably one of the best coaches in the country truthfully and um man how he's made me better is just how he pushes me I he knows how to he knows how to he knows how to coach certain guys you know and I'm a guy that um as much as I love this as much as I put in film as much as I'm putting out working on the field like he knows he knows how much I want it he knows how much I want to be successful how much I want the team to be successful so he's he's on he's on me every day every day if the standard is not the standard if we're not living up to that standard that we talk about um's he's G he's gonna talk about it every day every day he's not GNA take no days off he's the same person every day whether he's sick whether he's tired whether he's shoot and sometimes you just don't want to go to work but you will never you never know that you never know that um working with Coach Leone he's been he's been a blessing for my game um in multiple in multiple different ways and then just the just the just the knowledge that he has too is just it it just runs so deep there's never like I said there's never been a question that he hasn't had an answer for um I'll ask him about about a look that we probably never even seen before but I was like what if what if something like this would were to happen he's he's got the answer right away or he can draw it up and he explain it to me like he's just one of the smartest dudes I've ever been around honestly and you also have Coach Oliver as the head coach as the HC he had a quote that I read and I I thought it was a little bit interesting I want to see what you think so coach Oliver said I think that you'll be fine once you settle in and realize you don't have to do too much where is that balance in your mind of knowing okay I can just do this I don't have to take care of every single area I just need to take care of this right I mean shoot at the end of the day football's football and it's and being in the offense as long as I've been has been such a blessing because you know I know I know the uh the checks and I know the looks and I know everything that we need to do um for me for me I feel like um like going back to uh the guys we have around us um I just need to get the ball to my Playmakers really like it don't has it doesn't every play doesn't have to be a 60 yard bomb from the opposite hash like as far as doing too much I think that's kind of what he's he's talking about um we got guys that can be special and all they need is the ball in their hands so that's really my thing I'm just trying to get the ball to my guys hands let him go to work and when you're looking at Oliver you've been here three years you know him well what's what's a story that's like okay if I had to describe coach Oliver in one story funny serious whatever what is that one story that you would describe to say this is coach Trey Oliver shoot I don't know I'm gonna need some time on this one I don't know um that's coach he's another guy man he's the same person every day he's the same person day he wants to win and then you know when we not living up to the standard he's going to call us out on that um funny story I don't know I me if you ask him if you ask him he probably tell you about the time that he beat me in put put at the D at the D Frankie little part that probably be what he talking about I don't know I'm G have to think on that one a little bit we G gonna give you some time we gonna give you some time right um let's see your tight end room you're tight in room I think that's one thing we didn't we didn't hit too much but when you're looking at Titans in his offense how much do you think you'll use them as far as uh um maybe Midfield maybe middle of the field and then also middle of the field and width and middle of the field as far as depth how how much you think you use those guys oh Sho I hope to use them a whole lot a whole lot we got a lot of talented guys in that room so we need to get the ball in their hands as soon as we can um but really man with our tight end room they make it they make our offense go whether it's uh burning the ball passing the ball they make they make us go um they do a uh I think they probably have one of the hardest jobs on on on the field you know you think receivers all they got to do is run Rouse and you know blocking the perimeter you think of the old line they blocking the trenches now you got like a hybrid kind of guy that's got to go blocking the trenches got to block these DM got to block these three tchs um and then now they got to go one on the route versus safety you know I think that's that within itself is just is is ridiculous so our our our tiing room is loaded we're talented um I'm excited for him I'm excited for him and then I want to now lean back into who you are how the offense changes what it looks like under you from your POV so let's do that as we wrap up today's episode of Locked on HBCU that's wrapping up today's episode of Locked on HBCU I appreciate you for making this your first listen of the day every day making it all the way to segment three and I thank you two times for that at North Carolina Central quarterback Walker Harris and we've looked at The Supporting Cast we've looked at your experience as a backup and how it's molded you but I think there's one part I didn't ask that's important how was that time as a backup helped your maturation as a quarterback oh oh um tremendously tremendously um watching that especially watching how Peewee operates how he how he moves even in the game being cool calm and Collective just things like that um just picking up on little nuggets uh whenever I can um that's been that's been that's been a huge development um for me so now that you go from davius Richard right to Walker Harris what is the stylistic difference that fans should expect to see go from one quarterback to another ah shoot man uh you probably not gonna see you probably not gonna see walk taking off at 60 running three guys over spin move off of four other guys and stiff arm somebody to the ground and then go score out it's not necessarily my game that's not NE I I go get you 10 15 yards but it's not it's not my game I kind of like to I kind of I make I make the uh pocket my home and I sit back there and I just kind of get try and get the B of my guys now you had a game versus Central you excuse me a game versus Valley yeah what did that do for your confidence I know you didn't love your first game that you had as a true freshman but this game against Valley you lit him up right so what does that do for you going into this season as you can reflect on a quality game that you played as a starting quarterback against HBCU competition it was great it was great you know um that whole week was a great week uh leading into it we had a great week of preparation um great week of practice firing on all cylinders I mean we knew what we wanted to do with Valley we knew they like to go to cover zero a lot so we knew the checks where we wanted to get to um and then mean as far as that I mean something I like something I've always told myself as well is like you practice how you play if you do it in practice you're gonna do it in the game so that whole time leading up to that before I even knew I was playing I've been practicing like I've been the starter practicing like I'm in the game so it's like tell me that I'm starting that week is just all right now I'm just going to get I'm just going to be playing do what I do in practice so and that goes back to two the guys around me you know the connection I have with all the guys I think if I'm not mistaken I think waim had two t um cha had two um I can't remember who had the other one but um yeah that just goes back to the chemistry that we have and the work that we put in throughout these past few years really so this is a that was a year accumulation of work right there so you had that well first off how early in the week did you find out you were for sure starting uh because the week before we had played UCLA and was nursing nursing something so I played most of UCLA um probably probably by that Wednesday Thursday maybe I'm not really sure okay so not a real full week completely um practicing I was getting like the ones on Tuesday I was getting like the Reps on Tuesday but we were still waiting to see what was gonna happen with peee um like Wednesday Thursday so comparing that Tuesday to the rest of the the work week for you how much different is that week where you're coming in as a starter just kind of as a a as a replacement for a week versus knowing you're the full-time starter how different are those weeks of preparation in your opinion I mean really like I said it's really not not that much different um when you're a backup and you're getting you're preparing like you're the starter versus when you are the starter those weeks really match up I say the only difference is really the amount of reps I'm getting um I go in there and I'll probably get double or tripled the amount of reps um but in of just like the feel of it um feel of the week it's nothing it's nothing really different yeah I guess that comes from just preparing always if you always are mentally the starter then I guess once you physically become the starter it's not anything too different but uh Lefty right so you you're throwing with the left hand ain't nothing new for you I'm sure you've been throwing with the left your whole life but what's the difference for everybody around you from throw going from right hand to left hand I've never experienced that so I'm curious shoot I mean you ass Dam it's probably just the way the ball spin really it's nothing too much as long as you putting on their chin they gonna catch it which is probably the way the ball spin okay I I was always curious to that because people talk about left hand I don't know if it changes protections and you know people say oh well The Blind Side is now this side and then the the way the ball looks so I appreciate it because I was always curious on that personal goals going into 2024 what are your personal goals for yourself obviously you know you want to have some team success obviously you know you want to you want to win the Mak you want to win the celebration Bowl you want to do all of those things things but do you have any goals for yourself of I want to achieve this or I want to feel like this by this point in the season or something of that sort man man really I'm just I'm just trying to get that Championship whatever I gotta do to get that Championship um and I feel like too we get that Championship everything in between is gonna fall it's gonna fall into place as long as we taking care of what we need we need to take care of we the week um let personal goals will they they they'll come by themselves they'll come by themselves I think Peewee is a great example of that every week Peewee when to the uh to that game weight preparing for a win preparing for a championship and you seen how everything in between just kind of fell in place for him so I'm kind of going that same route um really just worried about the team worried about where the offense is at worried about what we need to do to get better um that's really that's really it I just want I just want to be the best leader I can be and when my time is on the field uh play to the best of my ability and I ask you a couple more questions before we wrap up you talked about Davies Richard and you mentioned it a couple of times so I can tell you guys have a good relation ship has he given you any advice as far as okay now you're going into the starting starting role this is what you should expect this is how you should move anything of just like hey this was my experience I want to give this to you and tell you about it shoot probably no I mean considering amount of questions that I've asked in the past few years he ain't really had to tell me too much yeah we both know what it is we both know what it is yeah I guess that makes sense you why why why recap when I was here I lived it all I talked to him I know everything he went through uh and then last question man you've played in some games you started a few now you're going into your first year as a starter all of this experience that you've had I probably you're probably one of the most experienced first year starters that you'll have in college football in this sense does that eliminate nerves are there still a little bit of nerves going into the orange blossom classic man I'm just ready to put the ball down I'm not gonna lie to you I'm just ready to put the ball down nerves are there but if you prepare those nerves those are just those are just the natural natural nerves that you get from a game it's not really ner nervous is I it's not the word I would use because I feel I feel prepared I'm it's just about putting the ball down it's funny that's why I tell I was telling my girlfriend the same thing about how you do interviews I'm nervous until it come in I was nervous in the mud coming into this interview but then I set it up yeah ain't no more time to be nervous you know it's just it's not any time to be nervous but uh I appreciate you Walker Harris first year quarterback longtime praise coach Oliver has been singing your Praises for at least a year and some I know it's probably been more private than public but publicly it's been for the last year or so so I wish you the best of luck I'll see Sunday Miami Florida Orange Blossom classic versus Alabama state so once again good luck to you good luck to your team and I appreciate you for coming on I appreciate everybody for listening hope you guys have fun in the chat doing a live stream until the next time that we hear each other family take care stay blessed peace today's episode is brought to you by Five Hour Energy and I can give a very personal testimony of somebody who wishes that he had a Five Hour 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