Chris Harris (cornerback)

Christopher Harris Jr. (born June 18, 1989 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American football cornerback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. Harris played college football for the University of Kansas, earned Defensive Back Player of the Week and All-American Honorable Mention. Harris signed with the Denver Broncos as a free agent on July 27, 2011 and earned NFL All Rookie Team and Breakout Player of the Year accolades.

College career
Career Honors: 2010: Team captain, KU defensive back of the year, KU defensive player of the week vs. Oklahoma State. 2009: KU's Don Fambrough Award, KU defensive player of the week vs. Northern Colorado and at Kansas State. 2007: Freshman All-America Honorable Mention (The Sporting News); Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year (Associated Press), All-Big 12 Freshman Team (The Sporting News), KU defensive player of the week vs. Baylor (co) and vs. Iowa State.

2010 (Sr.): Harris was KU team captain and selected as KU defensive back of the year. Named KU defensive player of the week vs. Oklahoma State and started all 12 games on the season, including the first six at cornerback and the last six at safety. Harris finished his KU career with 42 starts, including 24 consecutive, recorded 290 career tackles to rank third among KU defensive backs all-time.In 2010, Harris was third on the team with 82 tackles.His 5.5 tackles for loss were third on the team. Harris added two sacks on the year with one against North Dakota State and one at Southern Mississippi. Harris recorded four double-figure tackle games. He had 12 stops at Nebraska 11 vs. Colorado and Oklahoma State and 10 vs. Texas A&M.

2009 (Jr.): Harris shared the team's Don Fambrough Award for unselfishness with Kerry Meier. Harris was named the team's defensive player of the week vs. Northern Colorado and at Kansas State. Harris started all 12 games and started the season opener at nickel back before manning the right corner for the rest of the 11 games. Harris was third on the team with 84 tackles, led team with nine passes broken up, broke up at least one pass in seven different games and was active behind the line of scrimmage as well, with 6.5 tackles for loss, including a sack (at Texas Tech). Harris forced and recovered a fumble against Northern Colorado. Three times he recorded double-digit tackle totals with 15 vs. Southern Mississippi and 10 vs. both Nebraska and at Texas he made four tackles in all 12 games.

2008 (So.): Harris started the first seven games at cornerback before a re-shuffling of the secondary moved him to nickel back. He registered 59 tackles in 2008 and recorded an interception against Louisiana Tech. Recorded nine tackles against Sam Houston State and made at least seven stops in four different games.Had six tackles in regular season finale against Missouri.

2007 (Fr.): Harris started the season opener at right cornerback as a true freshman. He started 10 games on the season and started the first seven games, as well as the final three contests. Harris recorded 65 tackles to rank sixth on the team. He had two interceptions on the season with one against Baylor and one against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. He recovered a fumble at Oklahoma State and broke up four passes on the year.In his first collegiate game, a start against Central Michigan, he recorded nine tackles. He had consecutive double-digit tackle games late in the year vs. Iowa State (11) and vs. Missouri (12). He recorded at least three tackles in 10 games.

Early years
Harris attended Bixby High School in Bixby, Oklahoma where he earned varsity letters in football, basketball, and track. Harris was named All-State in basketball and football as defensive back senior year (2006) after helping the Spartans to the district title in 2006.

Harris was an all-metro first team selection after his junior and senior seasons. He earned all-state honorable mention honors as a junior. Collected 61 total tackles, four interceptions and seven pass break-ups in 2006. Harris had 23 receptions for 839 yards during his senior campaign.

Harris helped Bixby High School to second place in the 2005 state football championship, coached by Pat McGrew. Harris was a member of the academic state champions teams in 2005 and 2006. Harris was named a 2006 leader (top 50 students at Bixby) by the Bixby Optimist Club.

2011 NFL Season
Harris made the Denver Broncos All-Rookie Team and received the Denver Broncos Breakout Player of the Year and Denver Broncos Overachiever of the Year awards. Harris’s rookie season concluded with a total of 65 tackles (56 solos), six special teams tackles, six pass breakups and an interception. Harris led the team in special teams tackles on three occasions and also led the team in total tackles twice while being one of four rookies to play in all 16 games.

On November 6, 2011 in a game against the Oakland Raiders, Harris intercepted Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer to record his first career interception. During this game, Harris led the team with 11 tackles that tied him for the fifth most tackles by a cornerback in Denver Broncos team history and tied him for the 11th most tackles by an undrafted NFL cornerback in league history.

2012 NFL Season
On December 16, 2012 in a game against the Baltimore Ravens, Harris intercepted Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco for a 98-yard touchdown return, the longest in Broncos history.