Top 20 NFL Sooners, No. 7: Tommie Harris
In the past 20 years, the Oklahoma Sooners have experienced arguably their most productive era ever in the NFL Draft.
From the 2000 to 2019 drafts — the entirety of the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley years — OU has had 95 players drafted.
Using today’s 7-round comparison, that’s more than any other two-decade era in school history. In the 1970s and ‘80s, OU had 131 players drafted, but only 88 were selected in the first seven rounds.
In the last 20 years, the Sooners have produced some historically good players. Every day leading up to this year’s NFL Draft (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), SI Sooners presents the Top 20 NFL Sooners of the last 20 years.
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To say Tommie Harris made an immediate impact at Oklahoma isn’t nearly strong enough.
On his very first play as a college football player, in the 2001 season opener against North Carolina, Harris threw aside Tar Heels center Adam Metts — a senior and 2 1/2-year starter — went after quarterback Ronald Curry and instead stopped to knock down running back Willie Parker for a 4-yard loss.
On the next play, with Metts and another UNC blocker preoccupied with neutralizing Harris, Curry was swallowed by the OU defense, hit by Dan Cody and fumbled into the arms of Rocky Calmus.
Those two plays perfectly define Harris’ time at Oklahoma: when he wasn’t destroying offensive game plans, he was clearing the way for everyone else.
When Harris got to Norman from Killeen, Texas, he was he was regarded as the best player in Texas, the best defensive lineman in the country and a first-team All-USA Today prospect.
But, as Metts and Parker could attest, Harris was actually better than his reputation, better than his recruiting rankings, better than his press clippings.
What set him apart — in high school, in college and even in the NFL — was an uncommon combination of quick feet and and brute upper body strength. Harris’ first step out of his stance was just unfair, and when he engaged with even the biggest, strongest blockers, he almost always had a strength advantage.
The 6-foot-3, 295-pound Harris was a two-time All-American at Oklahoma, was a finalist for the Lombardi Award as a sophomore in 2002, and then won the thing as a junior in 2003 — still the Sooners’ last Lombardi winner. As a freshman, he collected 18 tackles for loss (only 14 players in school history have recorded more), and he finished with 34 in his career (no Sooner interior lineman has accumulated more since 2005).
He became the 14th pick of the 2004 NFL Draft and played seven seasons with the Chicago Bears and one with the San Diego Chargers. Harris made the Pro Bowl three straight seasons from 2005-07 and was arguably, along with Richard Seymour and Kevin Williams, the NFL’s best defensive lineman during that stretch.
Harris started 91 of his 117 NFL games, finished with 231 total tackles, 56 tackles for loss, 31 1/2 quarterback sacks and was in on 13 fumbles and an interception.
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Our Top 20 list was chosen by five voters: SI Sooners publisher John Hoover, deputy editor Parker Thune, long-time OU fan and amateur Sooner historian Anthony Jumper, OU school of journalism student Caroline Grace, and OU history and stats expert Steven Smith (aka Blinkin Riley).
The criteria was simple: former Sooners who played at OU during the last 20 years and went on to an NFL career. The rest, i.e, their NFL career, was purely subjective. Players received 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for second, etc., down to 1 point for 20th. A total of 28 players received votes.
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