How Oklahoma WR Trell Harris 'Earned Trust' Despite Missing Time This Offseason

NORMAN — Trell Harris is as excited as anyone to get the season going.

He transferred to Oklahoma after enjoying a breakout year at Virginia, but he spent most of his offseason in Norman working his way back from a procedure that he underwent at the start of spring practice.

Now, he’s ready to show off his skill set to OU fans on Friday night.

“It's been a minute since I played ball,” Harris said on Sunday. “Obviously, I missed out on spring a little bit. So any day I can kind of get out there and just hear the whistles blowing around, I'm happy. So I'm especially excited to get out there and go against a different opponent for sure.”

As a veteran of college football, Harris was able to stay engaged throughout the offseason and learn the new playbook despite not being able to get out onto the field until fall camp.

“When I was out in the spring… We'd meet at practice, and I would tell (John Mateer) what I was thinking, and he would tell me what he was thinking, and kind of just learn from other receivers," Harris said.

“Then not only that, kind of going through my old film at Virginia and just learning from that, and even though it's different concepts, he could still kind of see the way I move and just the way I think, so it was easy.”

Even from the sidelines, Harris’ experience allowed him to help lead Oklahoma’s receiver unit.

“That’s a tough spot to be in,” OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said on Monday. “You’re an older guy and you want to be a leader in that room, but you’re not necessarily going at the time. When’s the right moment to speak up? When do you say something, when do you don’t? I thought he handled that beautifully.

“Just whenever he did get to get on the field and start going during fall camp, I mean, everything that I think he’s about, everything that he’s shown as a player in every way that he continues to grow, I thought, just kept on showing up.”

As much as Harris tried to pass along his experience as a leader, he was receptive to all the help his fellow receivers lent to try and learn the playbook as fast as possible.

“When I first got here, we would always meet together, and the coaches did a good job of making sure we all met,” Harris said. “And if I had any questions, it was pretty much a race to see who was going to answer first. So there was a lot of input and output, and I could kind of take from everyone, and we all just wanted to help each other. So it was really easy. The transition was easy.”

From the view of Brent Venables, his high-profile receiver acquisition has done everything asked of him leading up to game day.

“For eight months, he hasn’t been able to do everything with the guys. But despite that, he’s still been able to create those types of relationships and earn that trust,” Venables said. “But really proud of him. He’s bought into our culture and how we do things.”

Now, Harris will finally get to combine with Isaiah Sategna as Oklahoma’s new 1-2 punch on Friday night.

“I’ve been really impressed with Trell,” Arbuckle said. “I’ve been impressed with just his disposition, his demeanor, who he is as a person, who he is as a student of the game and ultimately who he is as a player whenever he gets out there. Older guy who understands it. Really picked everything up really quick.”

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