Major Harris Major Harris ( born Feb 15 , 1968 ) is a former college football quarterback for West Virginia University during the 1980s . Harris was a 1989 All American and finished fifth and third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 and 1989 , respectively . He was also the ECAC Player of the Year in 1988 and 1989 . He is now an assistant wide receiver coach for North Hills High School . Harris was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009 . Early life . Major started his career as a senior in Brashear High School in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ( he would later be called the Brashear Bullet by West Virginia announcer Jack Fleming ) . One of Major ' s most memorable plays was when he threw a game winning 79 yard touchdown pass to Tony Horne on the last play of the game against Indiana High School . Major was named Pittsburgh ' s high school football player of the year and a " Sporting News " Top 100 prospect College career . Freshman ( 1987 ) . Major was interested in attending the University of Pittsburgh , but the coach , Mike Gottfried , was only interested with him at defensive back . Harris took another offer at West Virginia , where coach Don Nehlen was trying to rebuild the quarterback position . Nehlen set up a football camp for two - hand touch football and stated , " The kids couldn ' t touch him . " Nehlen signed Florida prep quarterback Browning Nagle along with Harris and redshirted them for the season . Harris and Nagle battled it out in spring practice and Harris eventually won the job , so Nagle transferred to University of Louisville . Harris struggled at first , but when the fifth game came around at East Carolina University , Harris stood out and ended West Virginia ' s season with a bid to the Sun Bowl against Oklahoma State University . West Virginia lost , but Harris rushed for over 100 yards . That season , Harris threw for 1 , 200 yards and 10 TDs on only 77 completions . Harris also rushed for 615 yards and 6 TDs . Sophomore ( 1988 ) . The following season , he was nearly perfect in directing West Virginia to the school ’ s first - ever undefeated , untied regular season and a matchup against No . 1 - ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship . In getting the Mountaineers to the Fiesta Bowl , Harris baffled opponents all season with his daring , unpredictable , wide - open style . Against Boston College , Harris recorded a career - high 297 passing yards . Harris ' dazling play was never more evident than in West Virginia ’ s 51 - 30 dismantling of long - time nemesis Penn State . Harris outgained the entire Penn State team , 301 - 292 , and produced the school ’ s most exciting run ever in the first quarter of that game . That run and several more like it helped him finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy race that year and earn ECAC player of the year honors . His season passing totals were 1 , 915 yards and 14 TDs , while he rushed for 610 yards and 6 TDs . He had the highest passing - efficiency rating of any college quarterback during the season , and totaled 2 , 348 total yards of offense and averaging 8 . 4 yards per touch . As the Mountaineers traveled to their first ever National Championship game , the Irish were favored . But on the third play of the game , Major Harris was hit and separated his shoulder . Harris stayed in the game , but didn ' t throw the ball that much , scrambling instead . At halftime , Harris fixed his shoulder , but he still could not throw deep . West Virginia never threatened Notre Dame ' s lead , and the Fighting Irish won 34 - 21 . " The Play " . Against Penn State in 1988 , as the play clock wound down , Harris forgot the play he had called in the huddle . As soon as the ball was snapped , the entire West Virginia team went in one direction and Harris went the other . He faked out the entire Penn State team leaving no less than seven tacklers grabbing air on the way to a thrilling touchdown — and one of the more memorable plays in WVU history . The Mountaineers won the game 51 - 30 . Harris ' coach , Don Nehlen , said of the run , " I had called 37 and he ran 36 . Everybody else on our offense went one way , and Major went the other . He literally ran through the Penn State defense for a touchdown of about 30 yards . After he scored , Major came to the sideline and apologized . He said , " My fault , Coach . " People still ask me about that play all of the time . . . If there was a contest for most exciting player , Major would win it hands down . " Junior ( 1989 ) . As a junior in 1989 , Harris was equally spectacular despite not having as strong a supporting cast . Against Rutgers during the season , Harris had a career - high 163 rushing yards . He finished third in the 1989 Heisman Trophy balloting on the season , earned first team Kodak All America honors and was a second team AP and " Football News " All American . Like 1988 , Harris was again voted ECAC player of the year . That year , Harris led the Mountaineers to a Gator Bowl game , but they lost to Clemson 27 - 7 . Harris threw for 2 , 058 yards and 17 TDs on the season , along with 936 and 6 TDs rushing . Harris set school records that season for most total offense and quarterback rushing yards . Both records , however , have since been broken . Legacy . Harris , alongside more recent Mountaineers Pat White and Geno Smith , are widely considered the greatest quarterbacks ever to play at West Virginia . Harris established a WVU record with 7 , 334 total yards and became the first of just a handful of quarterbacks in Division I history to pass for more than 5 , 000 yards and rush for more than 2 , 000 yards in a career . His 2 , 161 rushing yards rank eighth on the school all - time rushing list . Harris ' longest pass of his career was 70 yards and his longest run was 75 yards . Harris was announced to the 2009 College Football Hall of Fame induction class . Professional career . NFL and CFL . After the completion of his junior year , Harris was convinced to leave school early and was drafted in the 12th round by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1990 NFL Draft , though he would never play a down in the National Football League . Instead , Harris played one injury - filled season in the Canadian Football League with the BC Lions . Arena Football League and PSFL . Then Harris spent parts of the next three years in the Arena Football League , where his 429 rushing yards in 1991 stood as a single - season league record until Michael Bishop ran for 459 yards in 2005 . That same season , his debut , Harris passed for 940 yards , 9 touchdowns , and 9 interceptions . The next season , 1992 , Harris passed for 837 yards and 12 interceptions , then finished his AFL career with 382 yards and 8 touchdowns in 1993 . Harris finished his three - year AFL career with 2 , 159 yards and 29 touchdowns passing and 837 yards and 23 touchdowns rushing . Minor League Football . Harris played for the West Virginia Lightning and the Huntington Hawks in the National Minor Football League ( NMFL ) from 1994 - 1996 . The West Virginia Lightning won the NMFL Championship under Harris ' command . The NMFL consisted of teams in the eastern United States from Texas to Maine . Top performers from the NMFL moved on to The World League , later known as NFL Europe . Harris also played for the Southern Michigan Timberwolves in the Mid - Continental Football League ( MCFL ) in Monroe , Michigan for the 1999 and 2000 seasons . Harris was also the quarterback of the short lived Washington Marauders of the Professional Spring Football League in 1992 .