Christian Harris (born January 16, 2001) is an American 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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

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 ...

of 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

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

and was selected by the Texans in the third round of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

Early life

Harris attended

Louisiana State University Laboratory School Louisiana State University Laboratory School (U-High) is a laboratory school under Louisiana State University and is one of two laboratory schools in Baton Rouge. The other is Southern University Laboratory School (commonly known as "Southern Lab" ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. He played several positions in high school, including running back, wide receiver, tight end, and cornerback. He converted to linebacker in the 2019

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. A 4-star linebacker recruit, Harris originally committed to play

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

before flipping his commitment to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

College career

Harris entered his true freshman year at Alabama in 2019 as a linebacker despite not playing the position in high school. He opened the season as a starter and ended up starting 12 of 13 games, recording 63 tackles and being named freshman All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. Harris returned as a starter his sophomore year in 2020. On January 17, 2022, Harris declared his intentions to enter the

Statistics

Professional career

Harris was selected in the third round (75th overall) by the

in the

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2022. He was activated on October 22.

2023

On January 13, 2024, in the

Wild Card Round A wild card (also wildcard or wild-card and also known as an at-large berth or at-large bid) is an invitation to a tournament or a playoff berth awarded to a team or individual that does not qualify via an automatic bid. In some events, wildcards ...

against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, Harris returned a

Joe Flacco Joseph Vincent Flacco (born January 16, 1985) is an American professional football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Delaware Fightin' Blue ...

interception for a 36-yard touchdown, and he later sacked Flacco on 4th down during the next drive. It was the first time that a player had a sack and a pick-six in a playoff game since fellow Texan J. J. Watt did the same in the 2011 Wild Card Round against

Andy Dalton Andrew Gregory Dalton (born October 29, 1987) is an American professional football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "the Red Rifle", he played college football for the TCU Horned Frogs, wher ...

and the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

2024

On August 27, 2024, Harris was placed on injured reserve. He was activated on December 14.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Houston Texans bio

Alabama Crimson Tide bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Christian 2001 births Living people Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana American football linebackers Louisiana State University Laboratory School alumni Alabama Crimson Tide football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen