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Top 10 Quarterbacks in WVU History

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Photo via The Smoking Musket
  1. Major Harris (1987-89)

You can stop the run, you can stop the pass, but you can’t stop the Major. Major Harris, to me, is the greatest quarterback to ever suit up in Morgantown and possibly the best player in program history. Harris was a quarterback ahead of his time, he was one of the first serious dual threat quarterbacks in college football and boy was he a dual threat. Running the ball came easy to him. He could make plays with his legs and extend plays, but let’s not take away from how good of a passer he was.

In three years Harris totaled 5,173 yards through the air and 41 touchdowns. What separates Harris from the rest is he did something no other quarterback in the history of the program has done and that is to lead the team to a national championship game, which he did in 1988. During that 1988 season, he led the Mountaineers to a perfect 11-0 regular season record, which was the first undefeated regular season in school history.

Harris went down early in the 1988 Fiesta Bowl (national championship game) vs Notre Dame which may have cost the Mountaineers their first national championship. A good friend of mine and running back on that 1988 team, Eugene Napoleon told me, “We would have won that championship game with Major. No doubt. Major was good for at least three scores. Two in the air and one on the ground almost every game.”

Harris finished his career with 7,334 all-purpose yards and 59 touchdowns. He was also a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist in 1988 and 1989. He was drafted in the 12th round in the 1990 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Raiders, but injuries would get in the way of him having a successful NFL career. He would go on to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009.

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