Senior offensive linemen Trey Adams, Nick Harris inseparable during UW careers
Center Nick Harris needed a ride back to his dorm room. That’s how it happened, this four-year friendship that seems to make everyone grin when they talk about it.
“Thick as thieves,” said head coach Chris Petersen.
“It’s like big guy and little guy, you know?” said offensive line coach Scott Huff with a laugh. “They’re best buddies.”
On the football field is just about the only place Harris (6-1, 302) would be considered small. That’s part of his story — and we’ll get to that. But even if he weren’t slight for an offensive lineman, standing next to 6-foot-8, 314-pound left tackle Trey Adams would make it seem that way. And Harris has been standing near Adams for his entire UW career now, both on the field and off.
That ride back to the dorms? It ended up being a ride to Adams’ house instead. Harris was bored, and he didn’t want to go home just yet. He stayed with Adams, watching movies and chatting, until past 11 p.m. By the time Harris finally left, a tight-knit friendship was born. Harris doesn’t remember the exact moment he realized how well he clicked with Adams, but that night is as close as he can get.
They know their friendship doesn’t make much sense from the outside. If you look at them together or browse through their biographies on UW’s website, it would appear as if they have nothing in common.
“He’s shorter, little black kid and I’m a big, white dude with long hair,” Adams said. “Wouldn’t expect us to be buddies, but we just are. It’s been great. He’s a great friend, great teammate, great player.”
Coming out of high school, Adams was a heavily recruited, four-star offensive tackle considered by 247Sports to be the No. 6 player in the state of Washington. Harris was a three-star center who didn’t have an FBS offer before the Huskies reached out.
Petersen and his assistant coaches watched his tape and thought they were missing something. How could they be the only school that wanted him? But Harris’ high school coach assured them they weren’t missing a thing. And he was right. Sure, Harris doesn’t have the size. But that hasn’t hurt him much.
“All the experts didn’t know anything about (Harris), or have any opinion … and he comes in as a 17-year old kid and ends up playing,” said head coach Chris Petersen. “We were thinking about grey-shirting him. He’s young and comes in here and plays as a true freshman.”
Harris and Adams have that in common, although Adams was a true freshman the season before in 2015. They soon discovered that wasn’t the only thing they shared. Now, they’ve been roommates for more than two years, often spending 12 or more hours a day together. They’re with each other at practice, in the meeting room and then on the couch when they get back home.
Talk to them, even just once, and you’ll find the same dry sense of humor. They share a love of food and an appreciation for the same music — “Some,” Harris stressed. “Not all music.”
“A lot of people obviously think we’re a lot different and we are different in a lot of aspects,” Harris said. “But we’re kind of one and the same. We have weird humor and we’re always with each other. … We like a lot of the similar stuff.”
Harris was there as Adams fought back from the various injuries that have plagued him throughout his UW career: A season-ending ACL tear in 2017 followed by a back surgery for a bulging disc in his back before the 2018 season opener. He missed the first 10 games of what should have been his final season before deciding to return this year.
Harris drove Adams wherever he needed to go, brought him food. Adams said his roommate helped keep him in a positive mindset, but Harris disagreed. He said Adams didn’t need him for that.
“His spirits were high through the whole thing,” Harris said. “It was odd. I didn’t think he was going to be as positive as he was throughout all that. He was not affected by it, his emotions. He was like, fine. I was like, ‘OK, I don’t have to do much to help him through this.”
And that, more than anything else, is what Harris has learned from Adams.
“Not to take everything so seriously,” Harris said. “I have a bad habit of being super tightly wound and taking everything real serious. He has this energy about him like, just let it happen and everything will play its course. That’s just how he goes about life. I just learned to loosen up about things a little bit.”
Harris has taught Adams plenty, too. He started his career as an overlooked, under-recruited unknown, turned himself into a staple of the Huskies’ offense and overcame his own injuries to become an All-Pac-12 first-team selection and an AP second-team All-American. Harris is, in Adams’ words, “one of the toughest dudes you’ll meet.”
“Persistence, toughness, competitiveness,” Adams said of what Harris has taught him. “He played as a true freshman. He was 17 when he started against Alabama. So, I mean, that guy, he’s seen it all. Off the field, too — being a good buddy and loyal and kind and all that stuff.”
Huff said he couldn’t ask for two better players to lead his offensive line. Next year, the unit will have to learn how to function without them. But for two more games, starting with Friday’s Apple Cup, the duo will exist as they always have: Side-by-side.
But Adams and Harris have already started moving out of the house they’ve shared for two years. As their careers wind down, it’s starting to sink that soon, they won’t be spending every day together anymore. Even though Adams knows he’s not supposed to look ahead, he’s already started thinking about where he wants to work out ahead of the NFL Draft.
Wherever he goes, he hopes Harris will join him.
“We’re going to try and train together somewhere after the season,” Adams said, then smiled. “Maybe live together a little longer.”
