Huskies center Nick Harris taken by Cleveland Browns in fifth round of NFL Draft
The Cleveland Browns selected Washington center Nick Harris with the No. 160 overall pick in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday afternoon.
A three-year starter for the Huskies, Harris played in 50 games in his college career. He was a back-to-back All-Pac-12 first-team selection in 2018 and 2019. He was also named to Sports Illustrated’s All-America second team as a senior last season.
“I think one thing that’s going to translate pretty fast (to the NFL) is my football intelligence,” Harris said at the NFL Combine. “At UW, we prepared well for the schematic part of the game and the mental preparation. I’m jut a nerd for the mental part and just watching film. I watch film in my spare time just for fun.
“That’s something I pride myself on, especially being a center. I tried to keep those guys going at UW. We watched a lot of film. And I watched it by myself, too — a home on my TV, my iPad, my phone, with coaches, without coaches. I just love doing it. It’s just fun. I’d rather do that than play video games. I don’t even play video games.”
Harris started 12 of 13 games for UW last season, missing the Arizona game with an injury. He was named to the watch lists for the Outland Trophy, the Wuerffel Trophy and the Rimington Trophy. Harris also won the Guy Flaherty Most Inspirational Award — UW footballs oldest and most prestigious team honor — at the postseason awards banquet.
Coming out of high school, Harris was a three-star center who didn’t have an FBS offer before UW reached out.
“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,” former Huskies head coach Chris Petersen said last season. “We were thinking about grey-shirting him. He’s young and comes in here and plays as a true freshman.”
Harris played in 12 of 14 games as a true freshman in 2016 — starting two games at left guard and two at right guard. He started 13 games at right guard as a sophomore and earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention. But Harris’ preference is to play center.
“I enjoyed playing guard,” he said at the combine, “but center fits my personality a little more. I love talking. I love being responsible for everything up there, making the calls and stuff.”
