After being on seven other teams in his career, DuJuan Harris started his second game as a San Francisco 49er facing the Saints. He had started Week 17 against the Los Angeles Rams last season. Harris was brought in last season when Carlos Hyde, Reggie Bush, and Shaun Draughn were out with injuries, and has spent most of the 2016 season bouncing back and forth from the practice squad, to being waived, and finally now on the 53 man roster.
Harris rushed for 59 yards on 10 carries and hauled in 5 catches for 83 yards and his first receiving touchdown. His other two career touchdowns were with the Packers in 2012. He was having a great performance until he gave up the ball at the end of the fourth quarter which marked the fourth turnover of the game for the team. Even when asked about the positives, Harris was forlorn about the fact that the team could not pull off a win when they clearly had a chance.
Here’s his entire interview:
You kept the ball?
Yeah, I’m going to try to keep them all so I can train with them in the offseason.
How did it feel getting back into the end zone again?
It felt good. I got one in the preseason. Technically that doesn’t count, but to me it all counts. It felt real good. We just didn’t score enough.
What was working for you in the passing game today?
We just stuck to our fundamentals. Everyone did their job on each play and when you do that, you get a big game. We have to tighten up on some things and, as usual, get back to the film and fix try to our mistakes and try not shoot ourselves in the foot. It is tough to win a game against a future “yellow coat” in Drew Brees. We just have to fix our mistakes and stop shooting ourselves in the foot.
Do you ever feel like no matter what you do that it is just not enough just because of how potent their offense is and what they can do?
No. We could have won that game. We could have won. If anybody outside our locker room felt that we should have lost, oh well. I don’t care what people think. We know in this locker room we know that we could ave won that game. We could have won a lot of games this season. It’s just we’re killing ourselves. That is the main thing.
Did you know you were going to get as many touches as you got today?
I was prepared for whatever coach called. I am a team guy. Whatever coach calls I am going to try to do my best on that play and try to do the right thing.
Did you think you were down on that fumble?
Um, by rule I know I wasn’t, but you know I was thinking I couldn’t get an extra yard where I was so I thought they were going to blow [the whistle] but they kept on fighting and I didn’t squeeze and it came out so it’s on me.
After all of the times you were involved in a roster transaction, has it helped to have some stability the last few weeks?
It’s a business. You know, it didn’t bother me at all. I just know I gotta keep on doing my job and play my role., whatever my role is I gotta play that role until I get a bigger role. I got a big role now, so I gotta focus on my job now.
You’ve resurrected your career here. Eventhough it’s not a W it has to feel good, right?
It feels great to play again, love to win, and that’s the main thing. The more we win the better, the happier we’ll be. I’ve been blessed to be able to come back and play. I’m trying to play my heart out for these guys.