Marques Harris

Wyoming

Sep 20 (Sat)

8:15 p.m.

Position:
Defensive End
Height:
6-2
Weight:
235
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Grand Junction, Colo.
High School:
Grand Junction

AT COLORADO: This Season (Sr.)-Enters the fall as one of CU?s starting defensive ends. He missed the last two weeks of spring drills after suffered an inflamed vertebrae, but he was fine by the end of May. Street & Smith?s tabbed him as a preseason honorable mention All-American and a first-team All-Big 12 selection; Athlon?s also selected him first-team all-conference, while The Sporting News made him a second-team pick.

2002 (Jr.)-He earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors from the Big 12 Coaches, and the CU coaches named him to the team?s prestigious Victory Club for the season. He started all 14 games, including the Alamo Bowl, and played 755 regular season snaps at defensive end. He posted 68 tackles (48 solo) for the year, including a team best 14 tackles for losses, and added six more stops against Wisconsin in the bowl. He was second on the team in quarterback pressures (11), first in near-sacks (5) and tied for third in sacks (4). He also had seven third down stops and an interception, which he made in the first Oklahoma game. He had a season-high eight tackles against Missouri, and had five or more on seven occasions. He added two tackles and a touchdown block on special teams duty. He practiced the first portion of spring drills at outside linebacker, but he returned to his familiar position for the last half of practice as the coaches tried a few experiments on defense. He had 11 tackles, four sacks and four third down stops in the three main spring scrimmages. He was the speed-strength and conditioning champion in the spring for the 221-242 pound weight class.

2001 (Soph.)-He started all 13 games, including the Fiesta Bowl, at defensive end, earning his way on to CU?s prestigious Victory Club by grading out with a winning performance in at least eight games. He played 649 snaps from scrimmage, racking up 51 tackles (38 solo), six for losses, including three sacks. He tied for the team lead in hurries with eight, was fourth on the team with 11 third down stops, had three pass deflections and an interception (against Kansas State). He had a career-high nine tackles at Iowa State, including five solo and three third down stops. He was CU?s defensive player of the week for the KSU and ISU games; he had four solo tackles and two hurries in addition to the pick against the Wildcats, and other top efforts include seven tackle games against Texas in Austin and Oklahoma State. He was also fourth on the team in special team points with 13, as he had seven tackles (four solo, two inside-the-20) and four knockdown blocks.

2000 (Fr.)-He played in all 11 games, including two starts as the nickel defensive back against Oklahoma State and Missouri. In six games on defense, he saw action for 160 snaps from scrimmage and was in on 14 tackles (nine solo). He had two third down stops and three pressures, and also finished the year with 3? quarterback sacks, the most by a freshman in five years. On special teams, he had two solo tackles, a knockdown block and a blocked punt (at Texas A&M which set up a CU touchdown). He was going to get looks at both wide receiver and defensive back in fall camp, but he wound up at the hawk linebacker position. He moved to the drop position due to injuries, and then made the move to defensive end prior to the third game of the season (Washington). But because he weighed in at around 210 pounds, it was easy for him to play the nickel position on occasion.

HIGH SCHOOL-He played outside linebacker and slot-back his senior year in high school, when he earned PrepStar All-America honors. SuperPrep selected him to its all-Midlands team, and made the all-Colorado team by the Denver Post, which included him on its list of the state?s top Blue Chips. The Post selected him first-team all-state (5A) at linebacker, while the News picked him first-team all-state (5A) at tight end. He was a first-team all-Southwestern League as a junior and senior, and a first team Colorado Springs Metro League (5A) performer as a senior. He played eight games on defense as a senior, racking up 72 tackles (47 solo), with 20 for losses, including 10 quarterback sacks; he also forced five fumbles, had three passes broken up and blocked a punt. On offense, he caught 48 passes for 632 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 13.2 yards per catch. He also scored two touchdowns rushing, and returned 10 kickoffs for 298 yards (no TDs). As a junior, he was in on 112 tackles (86 solo), with 13 tackles for losses and four sacks. He added three blocked punts, two interceptions, three fumbles recoveries, two passes broken up and averaged 15.2 yards on six punt returns. Top career games included a 32-29 loss to Arapahoe in the first round of the state playoffs his senior year. He had 12 tackles, 10 receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown (including five catches on the last drive, where a field goal to tie the game was no good), and blocked a punt his team returned for a score. In a 54-14 win over Montrose, he had a whopping 11 tackles for loss, including four sacks. Grand Junction was 5-5 his sophomore and senior years and 6-5 his junior season under coaches Doug Cogan and Rocky Whitworth. He lettered four times in wrestling, winning the 5A state title as a senior, going 32-0 in his weight class (189-lbs). He finished fourth in the state as both a sophomore and junior, earning all-state honors three years in all. He also lettered as a freshman and sophomore in baseball as a catcher and outfielder.

ACADEMICS-He is majoring in communication at Colorado, and also has an interest in elementary education. An honor roll student in high school, as he owned better than a 3.0 grade point average.

PERSONAL-Born Sept. 20, 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His hobbies include snowboarding, backpacking, camping and fishing. An uncle (Chuck Wiman) was a one-time member of the CU football team in the 1970s, and his biological father is Alvin Phillips, who played linebacker and defensive line for the Buffs from 1972 to 1976. In October 2002, he founded Harris?s Kids Inc., a private non-profit organization to help underprivileged kids who need mentoring, and soon thereafter developed Baseline Inc., a similar group.

TACKLES

Season G Plays UT AT--TOT TFL Sacks 3DS Hurr FR FF PBU Int

2000 11 160 9 5-- 14 4-23 3?-23 2 3 0 0 0 0

2001 12 649 38 13-- 51 6-20 3-12 11 8 0 0 3 1

2002 13 755 48 20-- 68 14-50 4-24 7 11 1 1 0 1

Totals 36 1564 95 38-- 133 24-93 10?-59 20 22 0 1 3 2

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS-Interception Return Yards: 1-0, 0.0 (2001); 1-14, 14.0 (2002). Fumble Return Yards: 1-minus 7, -7.0 (2002). Special Team Tackles: 2,0--2 (2000); 4,3--7 (2001); 2,0--2 (2002).