Fact: Fifth-year senior Antoineo Harris has happily carried a heavier load for Illinois the last two games, rushing for a career-high 195 yards and two touchdowns in the upset of Purdue and 176 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in the rout of Indiana.
Not-so-fun fact: A typical super-sized fast-food hamburger with cheese and all the trimmings contains 30 to 40 grams of fat and about 550 calories, give or take the mayo. Add large fries and a cola and pretty soon it’s you who’s a load.
The connection? For Harris it’s a huge one or, should we say, a not-so-huge one?
Harris credits his recent emergence as the team’s most dependable and durable offensive threat the 10 to 15 pounds he has shed since last season, when he weighed 230. At 218 on a muscular 6-foot-1-inch frame, Harris is avoiding as many tackles now as he breaks.
“I got my weight down and that has made me feel better as a person,” he said. “Not only that, it has helped the team. One guy can’t bring me down now; it has to be at least two.”
Harris believes the moves he flashed Saturday–and the ones he hopes to show No. 20 Penn State this weekend in Happy Valley–stem from the quick dodges he made to avoid a certain tummy-expanding establishment.
“It wasn’t that I was fat or pudgy,” Harris said. “But I was going to my favorite fast-food restaurant a lot. On the way to class you can’t miss it. It was like a trap for me.”
Harris hasn’t been a disappointment, but there’s no question he finally is resembling the standout he was supposed to be when he rushed for 2,274 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior at Bolingbrook.
“Last year when Antoineo’s weight was 220,” coach Ron Turner said, “he was at his best. We weigh him every day now and we’ve told [strength coach] Jim Zielinski we want him below 220. After the Purdue game I told Antoineo 218 equals 195 [yards]. I think he understands now he’s better at this weight.”
Turner and Harris agree on something else: The more carries Harris gets, the better he seems to play.
For most of his career, Harris has been asked to share. Last year and the year before, Harris, the power back, alternated series with scatback Rocky Harvey. Quarterback Kurt Kittner’s arm and Turner’s strategy of keeping defenses off balance with different looks helped the Illini to a Big Ten title and the Sugar Bowl.
But when Illinois (3-5, 2-2 Big Ten) got off to a dismal 1-5 start this fall, Turner began to fiddle. He opted for a one-back alignment more to capitalize on his talent at wide receiver. Push came to shove when versatile fullback Carey Davis, with whom Harris had been splitting time, got first crack at the one-back.
“I wasn’t frustrated by the fact I wasn’t getting the ball,” Harris said. “I was frustrated that I wasn’t on the field helping my team win.”
Harris met with Turner a month ago to tell him how he felt.
“It wasn’t an argument or anything like that,” said Harris. “[Turner] said he agreed with me.”
Turner said it was less a heart-to-heart than a bumping into.
“We might have talked in a hallway,” he said. “I told him I wanted him to get more involved–and he said he wanted to too. We said you need to learn more about the one-back, and to his credit, he did.”
Harris’ four touchdowns against Indiana were the most by an Illini back since Howard Griffith’s eight against Southern Illinois in 1990. The first player since Jim Grabowski in 1965 to rush for more than 175 yards in back-to-back games, Harris has a chance to become the second-leading career rusher in school history. He can’t catch Robert Holcombe’s total of 4,105 yards, but if he can equal his average of 106.6 the last four games, he’ll pass runner-up Thomas Rooks’ 2,887.
Beginning with Penn State, the yards will be harder to come by. The Nittany Lions (5-3, 2-3) give up an average of only 113.2 yards on the ground, almost 100 fewer than Indiana’s 205.4. Harris is counting on the improved play of his offense line, his resolve to finish strong and memories of last year’s game to overcome what Penn State throws at him.
“Last week I was motivated [because] two years ago I fumbled and that was the key to our loss against Indiana,” he said. “This week it’s the same kind of thing. I got hurt (broken wrist) last year and I wasn’t on the field to help my team win (33-28 in Champaign). I intend to pay these guys back for putting me out of the game last year.”
Quarterback Dustin Ward said Harris has been crucial to the team’s recent revival.
“You give the guy the ball and he takes it 10 yards at a pop and it has got to help you,” Ward said. “He’s a very strong individual who feels it’s his job to run the ball. He runs it, comes back to the huddle and runs it again.”
With Morris Virgil out for the year with a broken fibula, Illinois is down to Harris, Davis and unproven backups.
“We have to do what we have to do to win games,” Turner said. “If [Harris] had to carry it 40 times last game to win, then we’re prepared to do that. We can’t say, `Well, we have to be careful.'”
That’s fine with Harris, who recoils at the notion he should wear a red jersey (no contact allowed) in practice.
“That’s like saying you don’t want to practice,” he said. “That would be an insult to me.”
Not as insulting, however, as the way his career might have ended if he hadn’t sworn off cheeseburgers, fries and soft drinks.
“When I come out and play from now on,” said Harris, “I’m going to run hard. I’m going to run like I have some fire.”
