'Not just doing this for me': Joshua Harris Sr. enters sixth year with a bigger purpose

To members of the UNC football team, Joshua Harris Sr. is affectionately called "unc."

It’s a nickname and a joke the graduate defensive lineman has embraced, even often giving a playful "nephew" in response.

But for Harris Sr., there’s one name that carries more weight: Dad.

As the Ole Miss transfer enters his final season of college football, he’s learned to balance both family and football.

“It helps me have more of a purpose to what I’m doing," Harris Sr. said. "Because I'm out here, [especially] when I'm getting tired, I can't just think, 'I don't have nobody to provide [for].' I got somebody I gotta provide for now. I’m not just doing this for me.”

‘It brightens my whole day’

Harris met his wife, Taylor, at Person High School in Roxboro, N.C. after she replied to his Snapchat story. She joked that her dad, a bodybuilder, was stronger than him. Now, just a few years later, they have two kids — Joshua Harris Jr. and Aylah Harris — with a third child on the way. 

Following spring practice at Ole Miss, Harris Sr. transferred from Ole Miss to North Carolina. He thought he would spend his final year of college football in Oxford, Miss., but plans changed. 

The North Carolina native reached a family decision to move closer to home to provide more support for his wife. At Ole Miss, there was no extended family to help around the house while he was at football-related events. 

“I [didn't] want my wife to have to go through another whole eight months of no help,” he said. 

While balancing the high demands of practice and meetings during the fall, Harris Sr. made sure to make time to see his family. At the team hotel, Harris had a room to himself during the preseason, and Taylor brought his two kids to see him often. 

He always looks forward to seeing his children. No matter how many missed assignments, missed tackles or bad plays, Harris Sr. forgets about it all when he goes home. 

“It’s great," Harris Sr. said. "A lot of people talk about how hard it is. But like when I go home, like no matter how bad of a day I have, when I go home and I see my two kids jumping up and down so excited to see me, it brightens my whole day, brightens my whole mood.”

‘He’s very mature’

After five years of college football — four at N.C. State and one at Ole Miss — Harris Sr. has become the de facto leader of the defensive line. During his recruiting process, head coach Mack Brown, along with the rest of the coaching staff, emphasized their need for a new leader. 

And it’s a role the graduate has embraced with open arms. 

Harris Sr. helps to lighten the mood in practice, often giving a drawn out "we getting better," which has become his infamous slogan to push his teammates. 

“There’s been times where we need a little kick-start to the day, meeting, whatever that may be,” redshirt first-year linebacker Caleb LaVallee said. “And he’s out there vocal and getting us fired up.”

In his five years of college football, Harris Sr. has 51 total games under his belt and 60 total tackles. He will bring not only increased physicality to the UNC line, but a wealth of experience. 

“I love him as a person, he’s confident, he’s strong willed, he’s a father with two children, he’s very mature,” Brown said. “And he brings a maturity and something different than Power [Echols] to that defensive line.”

Now, as his sixth year begins, Harris Sr. is looking to impact those around him while also soaking up all the knowledge and skills he can to reach his ultimate goal: the NFL. 

And in the back of his mind he knows he isn't just doing it for himself. 

@mdmaynard74

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