De'Zaria LucasWhen Walker Harris arrived at N.C. Central University from Wake Forest, NC, he had been playing football for nearly a decade, having fallen in love with it at the age of 10. Now, as he prepares to graduate with a Master’s of Business Administration, Harris hopes to continue after graduation.
Recess was Harris’s first introduction to football. Later in elementary school, Harris joined the Pop Warner Youth Recreational League.
“My first year playing, I was a running back and linebacker for the first game,” Harris recalled. “After the first game, they told me I was gonna play quarterback. That was the last thing I wanted to do was play quarterback, for whatever reason.”
But by the end of his first season, he wanted to play quarterback for the rest of his life.
By the eighth grade, he played football on an AAU team and for his middle school, refining his skills and laying a foundation that would carry him into a strong collegiate career.
Harris has played in 5 seasons at NCCU after redshirting in 2021. This season, statistically his best, Harris threw a career-high 387 yards in a September game against Fayetteville State, reaching a milestone that highlighted his growth as a quarterback.
In early November, he added a career-high of four passing touchdowns at Howard University, passing for at least 200 yards in nine straight games, and recorded his personal best of five rushing touchdowns this season.
Harris now holds a university record for most passing years in a single season, according to an Instagram post made by the NCCU football page.
With performances like these, he was recognized on Nov. 29 as one of the 30 finalists for the Walter Payton Award, an honor reserved for standout quarterbacks.
And now, Harris has been named MEAC Offensive Player of the Year.
When looking back at his favorite football memories at NCCU, Harris said his favorite memory is when the Eagles won the HBCU 2022 Cricket Celebration Bowl HBCU National Championship.
Although proud of his accomplishments, he didn’t achieve everything he had hoped to in his college football career, including winning multiple national championships.
Like many football players, Harris has a pregame ritual to prepare for each game.
“I don’t really listen to music a whole lot,” he said. “Once I get in the stadium…no music for real. [I’m] trying to just get out there, get loose, keep my arm loose.”
“Before I leave pregame warmups, I go and get a little fade. I’ll run a little fade, and catch, and be receiving.”
Harris said the qualities of a good quarterback are leadership, controlling the field and having a clear vision of all 22 players on the field. He said it’s also important to know when to get the offense out of a bad play.
“Football is the type of thing where it’s 11 guys [that have] got to be on the same page and on the same accord at all times,” he said. “So that makes everybody’s goal really centered on the same thing, so disagreements…ain’t a whole lot of disagreements. [It’s] just about getting the job done.”
Early next year, Walker is heading to the 2026 Allstate HBCU Legacy Bowl, a postseason all-star football game with HBCU players. Harris said while attending the Legacy Bowl, he wants to “see if [he] can get a chance at the next level.” The event, which gives college players a chance to play in front of NFL, UFL, and CFL scouts, will be hosted in New Orleans on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. at Yulman Stadium.
Harris will wait to see where his Eagle wings will take him.
