FACES OF GRCC

train.
“I would stay everyday, at least five
hours a day, during the offseason,”
Harris said. “When you love basketball
you will be there to just do drills.”
Harris’ father was the only person
who trained Eron growing up.
“All we did was just hoop with my
older brother,” Harris said. “My dad
played against us my whole life.”
Harris said he was a “YouTube
junkie,” watching videos of Kobe
Bryant and Michael Jordan, his two
favorite players growing up.
“I would study their movements,”
Harris said. “While my dad just rebounded
for me.”
The summer before his senior year
of high school, an opportunity came
from the Indiana Elite AAU team,
who gave Harris a call to fill in for
Yogi Ferrell who is now entering the
NBA Draft. Harris did well, and Indiana
Elite kept him on the roster the
rest of the summer.
“At the end of that summer I had
about 15 offers,” Harris said. He didn’t
sign his letter of intent.
At the last second, Harris’ high
school coach called a coach on
West Virginia University’s basketball
team. They thought he would fit in
the system well. The coaches were
impressed.
“I did amazing in these workouts,”
Harris said. “Coach Huggins came
down on the second day. He came to
my house that night and offered me at
my house.”
Harris thrived at WVU, averaging
just under 10 points a game his freshman
year. His sophomore year he
broke out averaging over 17 points a
game. He was named a Big 12 Honorable
Mention for all-conference.
Eron’s first major was journalism.
“I wanted to get into something that
dealt with photography and video,”
Harris said. “I thought it would be
something smooth where I could
focus on basketball as well too.”
Now, Harris is majoring in sociology.
Almost out of the blue, Harris
announced his plans to transfer
elsewhere.
“My heart wasn’t in a good place
there,” Harris said. “My heart brought
me here.”
Harris said his two years at WVU
played a key part in his path.
“I have a high appreciation for that
stage in my life,” Harris said.
MSU coach Tom Izzo made a call to
Harris’ father in hopes of recruiting
Harris to the team. In the end it came
MSU redshirt junior Harris sits in
front of his locker in the Michigan
State locker room.
down to three schools, MSU, Purdue
University, and the University of
Michigan.
Harris sat out his junior year at
MSU under NCAA transfer rules..
“Once I came to Michigan State,
we had it all planned out and just the
image of it was perfect, so me and
my parents all agreed that this is the
place I wanted to go.
“My redshirt (junior) year, I gained
a lot of confidence,” Harris said. “I got
to play against the guys totally free.”
One of Harris’ philosophies is that
everything happens for a reason.
“This past year was my first time
ever being in the tournament so I
don't really know what it's like going
super far in the tournament,” Harris
said. “Being a great basketball player,
you know, I know what went wrong
what we could've done a little bit
better in that game, but, we had a historical
season so we can’t down that.”
“We're definitely going to look back
at this season to be balanced on attack
to where we get into a situation
when we’re one and done, I want to
have multiple guys to be able to help
out and bring some energy.”
Harris said his team didn’t do as
well they should have in their 90-81
loss to Middle Tennessee State on
March 18.
Harris said his message to MSU
fans would be to stick with them.
“If you don't like us anymore that's
okay because we're going to be back,”
Harris said. “We are looking for revenge
to prove ourselves.”
Harris reminds himself daily of his
goals to win a championship and get
into the NBA.
“I'm just trying to get my schoolwork
done, eat right, get into the gym
even when I don't feel like it,” Harris
said. “You can't slack off. You have to
be the hardest worker at this level.”
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