Meet Durham Harris, Vanderbilt football's most interesting man
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NASHVILLE—There Durham Harris is “locked in” to a lecture in Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management when he sees something that catches his eye. Most would let the thought pass, but the Vanderbilt long snapper gets an urge to draw it.
Harris describes one of his passions as “being able to draw what I see.” If there’s something that’s inspired Harris, a person that catches his eye or something else of note, he likely has a sheet of blank notebook paper with it illustrated on it.
The art that the Vanderbilt long snapper comes up with isn’t a doodle or a quick note. It’s intricate. It’s passion-filled. It’s a reflection of his complex brain that often has a more nuanced perspective to situations than an average person could conjure up.
“It’s a skill that I’ve always had since being young and I just recently tapped back into it,” Harris told Vandy on SI. “It's kind of always been second nature. I don't know, I feel like I've been given potential, right? And it's by God. It's in my hands to find impacts with it, to impact the world positively.”
Harris says his parents have told him that his art is “really good” since he was three or four years old using markers or crayons and that in reality the drawings weren’t “really good,” but that he started to believe in himself at that age as a result of their encouragement. The Corpus Christi, Texas, native developed a passion for drawing at a young age, took a break, but is now back to form.
Recalling his youth includes Harris remembering his favorite activity being watching SpongeBob Squarepants and drawing sketches pictures while following along with the show.
The Vanderbilt long snapper’s proudest portfolio pieces these days include a veggie tales sketch, a caricature of the Vanderbilt Commodore kicking Tennessee Volunteers' mascot Smokey the Dog, a detailed drawing of country artist Shaboozey as well as a portrait of American writer Dale Carnegie accompanied by his quote “If you tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I’ll tell you what you are.”
“It depends on what he wants to make you feel,” Vanderbilt punter Nick Haberer–who says he can see it in Harris’ eyes when he’s about to start sketching–said. “If he wants to draw something exactly how it is, he'll do it exactly how you see it, in a cartoon form you can tell instantly that person is [who he’s sketching.] If he wants to make something funny, he can over exaggerate it.”
Haberer says Harris’ drawings at times are reminiscent of the caricature drawers at Venice Beach in California, but that he’s “never seen anyone that can draw that much.” The Vanderbilt punter says he’s tried to keep up with Harris’ drawings, but hasn’t been able to hold pace.
Harris can’t say that he’s among the most notable Vanderbilt players in terms of in-game impact, platform or physicality, but nobody on this roster can say they’re more talented in their secondary craft than Harris is.
“Whatever I see, either in my mind or in front of me with my eyes, I feel like I can put that on paper pretty well,” Harris said. “It’s a skill that I’ve had since being young.”
36 hours later, Harris and Haberer were a whole lot closer. The pair of Washington State transfers made the drive from Pullman, Washington, to Nashville in one go, without stopping. Haberer took the nights while Harris drove during the day. It’s a drive that encapsulates the off the wall nature that’s needed to become a special teamer at a place like Vanderbilt.
When the pair got to Nashville, Haberer had an apartment and housed Harris for “a bit” until he found a place to live. The nights would include Haberer and Harris playing the guitar together and by the end of it, they were forced to know each other better than just about anyone on Vanderbilt’s roster.
“Those guys have got really, really good chemistry,” Vanderbilt special teams coach Jeff LePak said in the fall. “When you have that relatedness off the field, I think your play on the field is just going to be a byproduct of that. Those guys do a good job communicating off the field, as well. They’re best friends, but they also push each other.”
Haberer says the first time he ever interacted with Harris was prior to the longsnapper’s arrival at Washington State when Harris reached out to him via DM and said “I hope you’re excited to receive snaps from me.” Harris hadn’t yet earned the starting job yet, but preceded with the ultimate confidence.
The Vanderbilt punter says he knew his long snapper was a unique person “literally” the first time they ever met. That interaction included Harris–who is not Australian–referring to Haberer–who is Australian–as “mate.” The interaction was the first taste of Harris’ personality that Haberer got, now that he’s been around the long snapper for multiple seasons he says Harris can talk to “anyone.”
“He’d be the best salesperson ever,” Haberer told Vandy on SI. “First time I met him, I was like ‘this guy’s different.’ He’s not everyone’s flavor, but he’s definitely grown on me because we literally spend most time together out of anyone in this building.”
In the moments prior to Harris stepping off to the side of the exit of Vanderbilt’s indoor practice facility, he stood next to Haberer, Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor and the rest of the team’s specialists chatting while the offensive and defensive practice sessions concluded. It’s a unique group, but Harris is perhaps the most unique of them all.
The Washington State transfer refers to himself as the “velocisnapper” and has a detailed drawing of a velociraptor with a football helmet posted on his Instagram story. It may seem like fun and games–and at times it is for the Vanderbilt long snapper–but a conversation with him indicates that just calling him unique would be doing him a disservice. Harris clearly has something more to offer than just fitting the bill of the interesting nature of being a special teamer.
The way in which Harris thinks, the way in which he articulates himself indicates that his days and passions are well thought out. Upon that suggestion, he takes the time to sincerely state his thanks for the comment and what it suggests about him. Perhaps that in itself is a microcosm of what makes him tick.
“I would consider myself a deep thinker,” Harris said. “[I like] thinking about thinking.”
When Harris was a preteen, his mother’s then husband gifted him a throwback Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet that he painted himself. The gift hit home for Harris, who says he “fell in love” with football helmets shortly after. The helmet is a merging of passions for the Vanderbilt long snapper, it allows him to tap into his artistic side, but also to intertwine it with his love for football.
Harris was initially taught how to paint helmets with a rattle can and “took it as far as it would go.” The now-Vanderbilt long snapper frequented Lowe’s and Home Depot to find different colors that could match the color scheme he wanted to paint on a certain helmet. Eventually Harris got “frustrated” that the helmets he was making didn’t appear as they did on TV and learned to use automotive paint to make clearer replicas.
The Vanderbilt long snapper went to Harbor Freight and bought himself an air compressor as well as a paint gun. From there, he taught himself the basics off of YouTube videos and eventually gained more knowledge after being invited by a company called Sportcoat that taught him how to master his craft.
“I would love to do this after football,” Harris said of painting helmets. “That'd be a great way to give back to this program, possibly in the future.”
Since Harris bunkered down in his mom’s garage in his senior year of high school, he’s designed portfolio pieces like an all-black Metallica football helmet, alternate BYU, SMU, and Texas State helmets as well as a “Land of the Free,” USA themed lid.
Harris has studied the work of custom helmet designer Armando Villarreal and believes that he could be an asset to Villarreal–as he works to make a living off of helmet design–because of his marketing background. At the very least, he says he’d like to be Villarreal’s apprentice.
Who knows how this all ends for the Vanderbilt long snapper, but the idea that his life will be defined solely by his ability to get it to Haberer and Taylor appears to be futile. Harris has something more inside of him that he says is God-given. Now, he’s tasked with finding out how to use it.
“He’s a very creative person,” Haberer said. “He’s pretty talented.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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