A sold-out crowd, a night sky and a touchdown pass are three things not new to Meade Stadium.
However, the man who caught the game-winning pass in week one is the latest addition to the University of Rhode Island football offense.
Shawn Harris, a sixth-year transfer wide receiver, sprinted into the middle of the field and evaded defenders for a 31-yard touchdown with just 19 seconds left in the Rams’ home opener, lifting them over the College of Holy Cross Crusaders 20-17 back on Aug. 31.
“We knew we needed to score, we knew we needed to make a big play,” Harris said. “A couple guys stepped up [on] that drive… luckily the last play ended up in my hands.”
Before the 2024 season, URI Offensive Coordinator Patrick Murphy was asked by the radio voice of the Rams, Steve MacDonald, about the newest additions to the offense. When Murphy reached the topic of Harris, he referred to him as one of the fastest players he has ever coached.
“[Harris] is lightning in a bottle, in that regard,” Murphy said. “As far as speed goes, having someone on the field that can take the top off from any position on the field, it’s really something we haven’t had here to this degree… With him and a couple of his teammates, I think we’re as fast as any team in the country at the [Football Championship Subdivision] level.”
As for Harris, he proved those comments from Murphy correct, as he ran 21 yards untouched for his game winning touchdown.
“That’s my job, to make him look good,” Harris said. “So it was just me backing up his word for real.”
Kingston marks the tertiary stop in Harris’ collegiate journey. Previously, he was a member of the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. While at UMass, Harris only played for one season in 2023. However, he received the majority of his experience from a team Rhode Island is very familiar with.
Harris played for the Stony Brook University Seawolves from 2019-2022, playing URI a total of three times. Now wearing Keaney Blue instead of the navy and red of Stony Brook, Harris has a new sense of belonging.
“I feel like it was meant to be, I was meant to be on the other side of that [field],” Harris said.
While with the Seawolves, Harris faced off against his former high school teammate, AJ Cornelius, who played right tackle for Rhode Island from 2020-2022 before transferring to the University of Oregon. The postgame chats between the two may have sparked a thought for Harris that maybe Kingston would be home.
“When we had played [Rhode Island] before when I was at Stony Brook,” Harris said. “I would talk to [Cornelius] after the game, [I] saw [Rhode Island] was a good program and he was telling me like, ‘we throw the ball if you ever make that decision’.”
As for adjustment, change is rarely easy. In making the play of the game in his debut, Harris feels that he has adjusted well to URI so far.
“I transferred schools before so it was nothing new, but the coaches did a good job just helping me understand the offense,” Harris said. “The players have just helped me all around, [with] the playbook, with campus, anything. I had a lot of help coming in and I’m starting to get it now but…there were a lot of people playing a part in getting me to where I am now.”
Harris and the rest of the Rams will try to take down the Sharks this coming weekend when they travel to Long Island University on Saturday at noon. The game can be streamed on NEC Front Row.