The odds of becoming an NFL player are somewhere close to winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning. And those odds get even slimmer if you don’t take a more conventional route.
The overwhelming majority of players who are able to make even a short career in the NFL took the same path. It starts in high school. They become a high school all-star, get recruited by a university on a scholarship, become a college star player, and get drafted by the NFL.
During minicamp, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, unprompted and seemingly out of the blue, heaped praise on Harris – a 6-2, 215-pound safety – for his play this offseason.