Technician: When and why did you decide to pursue pro football after not having played for an organized football team since you were 13 years old?

Simon Harris: I went and played professional basketball in Ireland for three months. I decided that wasn’t what was best for me. So I got home and I literally, on the weekend I got home, I told my dad I actually wanted to play in the NFL. He said, ‘It is about time.’ We went ahead and contacted one of the alumni from N.C. State who was a good friend of one of the NFL scouts. We made that call and I worked out with him, got positive feedback from there and then went on to State’s pro day in March.

Technician: How did you perform at State’s pro day and what happened next?

Harris: The following day I was signed by my agent at Excel Sports Management. They sent me down to Florida to work out with Tom Shaw. Toney Baker was there and Jamelle Eugene was there as well. I worked out and did a bunch of speed training and worked on different football things. I was there for two weeks and he taught me the proper way to run and different techniques. I was working out with different NFL guys that were down there with him. Santonio Holmes worked me out and we worked on my route running and stuff like that. I eventually came home and trained here with my buddy Jason Halter, who was a tight end at ECU. A friend of mine, James Booker, is a strength trainer, a weightlifting guy, so I worked out with him as well.

Technician: Describe your experiences on the last day of this year’s NFL Draft and what it led to.

Harris: I saw how the draft went and on the final day of the draft, about 45 minutes after it ended, Dallas called and showed interest, and they said they wanted me to go down to that rookie camp for a tryout, to see how things would go. I got that call from Dallas and went there for that weekend. I worked out, went over drills and plays, got to meet the staff and did all that. I also met all their veterans, and then came back home.

Technician: How special was it trying out for a team like the Cowboys?

Harris: It was just awesome. Everyone was so nice. Going in, I was thinking, ‘They know I didn’t play football.’ I thought maybe different players would be mad. I actually still talk to a bunch of the guys that are down there now. The overall experience was awesome because I got to see how they ran their operation. That experience is a huge motivator because you see what you are going to do. When I was down there, we were practicing. We were doing what the Cowboys are currently doing with the veterans, it was just all rookies. It showed me what I needed to prepare for and how to approach it in order to be successful next time.

Technician: Does this mean Wolfpack fans can expect to see you in a Cowboy uniform this fall?

Harris: As of now, I’m pretty much banking on a no from the Cowboys. I would have known by now if they wanted for me this year. Right now it is more or less a matter of keeping my options open. I will probably take the year off, train, and go back at it next year.

Technician: How confident are you that you are capable of becoming a successful NFL tight end?

Harris: I’m extremely confident. For me to have not played in a decade and been invited to work out with pretty much the premier team in the league, that was big time. It was a huge blessing for me to get that far. For me to get positive feedback from them, them saying, ‘Keep at it,’ that was awesome. The tryout with the Cowboys was a huge boost for my confidence. I haven’t played the game since I was 13 years old and I worked out with one of the top five franchises in sports. Not yet hearing back from them hasn’t knocked my confidence at all. It was an awesome opportunity. The way I look at it, for them to tell me, ‘Stick at it and keep working out, you never know what can happen,’ that is not a no. I have heard different people get nos and they are sitting at home right now wondering what their next move is.

Technician: You describe how much you love football and how confident you are in your potential to become a pro. But you didn’t play football in either high school or college. Why did you stay away from the gridiron for so long?

Harris: I have always loved football. It was just more convenient to play basketball. In high school, my coaches were one-or-the-other type of guys with me. I had teammates that could play both sports, but I was advised not to do that. I’m more naturally gifted at football, but the way I looked at it was that basketball was a little easier on your body and I really had a passion for playing the game of basketball since I was 2 years old, so that is the route I wanted to pursue. I obviously could have done either. I considered football again in college. But basketball was picking up, and like I said, it’s a lot easier on your body to continue basketball.

Technician: How much inspiration and influence do you draw from all-star tight ends like Gates, who did not play college basketball, and the Falcons’ Tony Gonzalez, who played both sports in college?
Harris: Their success does a lot for my confidence. Obviously they opened the door for guys like me to have the inkling to achieve their goal. My agent is actually really good friends with Tony Gonzalez. That was a big help because he would talk to him about certain things I needed to do. That was a major help in getting me ready to go. Since he did play basketball and football in college, Gonzalez is pretty much my model of what I always wanted to go for and become.

Technician: What will you focus on between now and next season to give yourself a better chance of making an NFL roster?

Harris: It basically came down to the fact that I didn’t know as much as everybody else. I have a lot of learning to do about the game of football. And that’s what I am doing now. My agent and I are going and looking for different people to get the verbiage of it down and different aspects of it that way, like different learning coverages and things like that. It’s an emphasis on film. NFL offenses cover so much stuff and there is a lot involved. The Cowboys’ offense is unbelievable. It is actually beautiful, just how in sync they are with everything.