Atnaf DeShawn Harris (born February 27, 1979) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

and

Cal State Northridge Matadors The Cal State Northridge Matadors (branded as the CSUN Matadors) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Northridge in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. The Matadors field 17 teams in nineteen sports. The Matadors ...

. In his career, Harris played in the NFL for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, and with the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

, and

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL).

Early life

Harris attended Edison High School where he recorded 34 receptions for 667 yards and six

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He earned First-team All-North Yosemite League honors and named to the ''

Fresno Bee ''The Fresno Bee'' is a three-times a week newspaper serving Fresno, California, and surrounding counties in that U.S. state's central San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and ranks fourth in circulation among the company's ...

s All-Star team.

College career

Harris played three seasons at Fresno State, where he recorded 26 receptions for 285 yards and four touchdowns in 23 games. He recorded 17 receptions 198 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman. He was a teammate of

Rodney Wright Rodney Bernard Wright, Jr. (born November 28, 1979) is an American former professional football wide receiver. He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL draft. He played college football at Fresno State. Wright w ...

, future

teammate, for three seasons. He transferred to Cal State-Northridge for his senior season but the school dropped their football program that year. He then went back to Fresno State where he graduated with a degree in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Professional career

NFL Draft

Harris was not expected to get drafted in the NFL, which he was not. However, he did get attention from some pro scouts that were at the Fresno State pro day to watch

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

David Carr, who was chosen first overall by the expansion

, by running a 4.42

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

and a vertical jump of 43.5".

National Football League (2002–2004)

After going undrafted in the

2002 NFL draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted ...

, Harris was signed by the Houston Texans, who had drafted his college teammate Carr, on May 22. He spent time on the teams

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

before being signed to the active roster in November. He played in one regular season game as a rookie, a start in the regular season finale, in which he recorded one receptions for eight yards. After was waived by the Texans in the final cuts before the 2003 season, and was signed by the

in December 2003. He then spent the season on the Broncos practice squad, but was waived on August 21, 2004.

Arena Football League (2006–2008)

San Jose SaberCats (2006)

Harris signed to the practice squad of the San Jose SaberCats of the

on November 3, 2005, and did not play in any games that season.

Arizona Rattlers (2007–2008)

He then signed with the

after spending the 2006 season on the San Jose practice squad. As a rookie in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, Harris played in eight games, starting three, and finished third on the team with 41 receptions and 595 yards and nine touchdowns. His 14.5 yards-per-catch average was first on the team, and was 11th on the Rattlers all-time single season list. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Harris played in just two games, both against his former team, the SaberCats. He recorded six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two tackles. He was released by the Rattlers after the season.

Personal life

Harris enjoys playing

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

in his free time, his favorite being ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...

''. He hopes to pursue a career in coaching high school football. Harris is married and has two sons: Jalen and Kamar.

Notes

External links

Arizona Rattlers bio

Stats at ArenaFan

at

Pro Football Reference Pro Football Reference (PFR) is an online statistics database for professional American football maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for players, teams, and games, as well as records and NFL draft history. PFR was ...

ESPN.com bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Atnaf Deshawn 1979 births Living people Players of American football from Fresno, California American football wide receivers California State University, Northridge alumni Fresno State Bulldogs football players Cal State Northridge Matadors football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen San Jose SaberCats players Arizona Rattlers players