ECU football’s Rahjai Harris injured for the season, still to play leader part in Pirates success

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - ECU football is coming off a strong win at South Florida but they lost running back Rahjai Harris in the process. He’s been a huge piece to their success the past few years and his absence has been felt already.

“Rahjai is done for this year,” says ECU head football coach Mike Houston, “He will make a full recovery. He will wear the purple and gold and be a great player for us again.”

“Great player, great guy,” says ECU center Avery Jones, “We felt bad for him and we are going to stick beside him and help him get through it.”

It’s hard not to like Rahjai Harris, unless you have to play against him. The violent runner whose play for the Pirates speaks for itself. Through 5 games he has 238 yards and 5 touchdowns rushing. He also has 71 yards and a touchdown receiving.

“Just got to make sure we get him healthy and support him mentally through this process,” says ECU head coach Mike Houston, “He is just such an incredible young man. There’s so much more to him than just his play on the field.”

The guy off the field is a smiling face, tweeting out 1 percent to get bet every day, and a leader in the room.

“He’s done everything right since he got here,” says ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers, “He’s never been a me guy, he has always been a leader. He is going to continue to be a leader for this football team he means a lot to us.”

He told us where that leadership comes from earlier this fall.

“I’ve been considering myself a leader for a long time. Way before I got here,” said ECU running back Rahjai Harris on media day, “Shoutout to my dad. He just coming up in that home, watching him lead us, we had no choice but to be a leader.”

“He’ll still be a positive impact on our roster throughout the rest of the season,” says Houston, “It will just be in different ways.”

ECU coaches spoke Wednesday evening and say Marlon Gunn Junior will step in to some of Rahjai’s role. Havelock graduate Kamarro Edmonds will also likely see some reps at running back with Harris out.

ECU faces off with Tulane on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3:30 PM our time.

Do you see something needing a correction? Email us!

Copyright 2022 WITN. All rights reserved.