Last offseason, R.J. Harris worried about his 40-yard dash times, the three-cone drill and where, or if, he would continue his football journey. This offseason, the former University of New Hampshire star is doing things like polishing the finer points of his wide receiver game and spending a week in San Diego with All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees.
“This offseason has been completely different,” Harris said. “Last year, I was strictly focused on my Pro Day, making sure I ran a fast 40 and things like that. This year, not having to deal with a Pro Day or the combine, I was able to go over the nuances of route running, catching the ball, things like that.
“Knowing what to expect this offseason, I was able to gear my focus toward more football-specific aspects of training.”
That focus helped Harris, 24, excel at the New Orleans Saints minicamp and OTAs in May and June. He stood out for the Saints last spring after he was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent and wound up on the team’s practice squad for part of the season, but there’s no doubt Harris has taken another step forward this year.
“He’s smart and made a really good play down the sideline in that last team period,” New Orleans Coach Sean Payton told reporters in early June after an OTA. “We saw some of that even a year ago, and it’s good to see a player like him in his second year showing signs of progress and obviously playing with a lot more confidence because he knows what he’s doing.”
Harris feels good about that progress, too.
“I’m very happy with where I stand and how things are going. I feel a lot more confident now,” Harris said. “Last year I was out there and my head was spinning. I was worrying about where am I lining up? What route do I have to run? And this year when we break the huddle, I know where to go, so now my focus is more on what do I have to do get open and win on this route. It’s just a completely different feel out there for me this year.”
And Harris is winning on a lot of those routes. After another May OTA session, Payton noted that Harris was excelling at separating from defensive backs, which is the skill that separates wide receivers from each other. They’re all fast, all athletic and (almost) all have great hands, but being able to utilize that speed and athleticism to get open and make catches is the critical skill for receivers.
Apparently Brees noticed that separation, too. The nine-time Pro Bowl and three-time All-Pro quarterback invited Harris to spend time with him in San Diego earlier this month, along with big-name Saints like receiver Willie Snead (69 catches for 984 yards last year), running back C.J. Spiller (34 catches for 239 yards in 2015) and tight end Coby Fleener (54 catches for 491 yards last year in Indy).
The group rotated between working out in a gym one day and working out on a field the next. Their gym days were spent at Fitness Quest 10 with Todd Durkin, a renowned trainer in San Diego. They would be at the facility for about six hours, working out and recovering, doing yoga and pilates, getting massages and chiropractic treatment, “just getting everything perfect and complete,” Harris said.
The pack of Saints spent the next day on a field running routes, catching balls and developing football rapport. Then it was back to Fitness Quest 10 for another six-hour day of training, then back to the field the next day, and on it went for a week.
“It was awesome just being out there with some of the guys who are key components to the offense. Just the fact that I was able to be out here, I felt like I was blessed,” Harris said. “I just took it for what it was and went out there and worked hard.”
Harris is the son of military parents, so he learned all about working hard at a young age. And that work ethic found a new level at UNH.
“What I learned at UNH is the foundation for everything I do, to be honest with you,” Harris said. “We knew we didn’t have the best facilities, but that wasn’t what it was about. It was about going out there and competing every day to be the best. And now that I’m in a situation where things are a little bit nicer, I still know how to compete and that’s what I learned at UNH. I take that blue-collar attitude and just work hard every day to try and earn my keep.”
During his four seasons at New Hampshire, Harris caught 310 passes for 4,328 yards and 36 touchdowns, setting the school and Colonial Athletic Association record for career receptions, and winding up second in career receiving yards in both UNH and CAA history. During the 2014 season, Harris’s senior year, he set the school record for catches in a season (100) and tied the school mark for receiving yards in a season with 1,551, a total that also topped all of FCS.
Harris led the Wildcats to a 12-2 mark and a second straight trip to the FCS semifinals in 2014, won the College Football Performance Awards FCS Wide Receiver Award and was named to six All-America teams. Despite all the accolades, Harris wasn’t drafted, but he did sign a free agent contract with New Orleans and was with the Saints from May through October 2015.
After he was released by the Saints, he signed with Atlanta and stayed on the Falcons’ practice squad for the rest of the season. He became a free agent at the end of the year and had several offers, but once he got another shot to join the Saints, Harris jumped at it.
“It was a no-brainer,” Harris said. “I knew the system, knew the people, knew what to expect. So I talked to my agent and said, ‘Let’s go ahead and hop on it.’ ”
After his performance this spring, Harris seems like a good bet to make the New Orleans roster as the team’s fifth wide receiver. Those odds may decrease if the Saints sign veteran Anquan Boldin, a move that has been speculated by several sources. But Boldin is still a free agent and Harris still has all of training camp, which begins Wednesday at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, to earn his keep.
No matter what happens with Harris, he won’t forget New Hampshire. He was at the spring game in May before going to New Orleans for minicamp. He talks to his UNH family on a daily basis. And just last week, he was spending time with Kyon Taylor, a rising UNH senior who is expected to be the leader of the team’s wide receiver corps this year.
“Once you’re a UNH alum,” Harris said, “it’s brothers for life.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)