INDIANAPOLIS --- Indianapolis Colts Center Jonotthan Harrison is moving on up in more ways than one, after a busy Sunday. It began with his first NFL start against the Ravens in the afternoon and ended with him having to move in all of his belongings into a new place in the evening. Such is the life sometimes of a undrafted free agent rookie trying to make it in the NFL.
"I went home. I was in the process of moving. So, right after the game I went to packing my stuff up, moving up three flights of stairs," said Harrison Monday morning, before being asked if he's moved up to the Penthouse after his first start. "No, no, no. Just the third floor. No Penthouse. I'm still a hard working individual just trying to make a career."
You might wonder why Harrison is still moving his own stuff, now that he's making six-figures a season in the NFL.
"I really don't think I'm going to change. I came from a small country town," said Harrison, who is from Groveland, Florida about 30 miles west of Orlando before going to the University of Florida for college. "Gainesville was big to me when I moved (there), and that's just a small college town. I don't think I'm really going to change much."
That includes doing his own moving. Harrison said he can even move a couch on his own. That's not too hard to imagine for a young man that's 6'4" and 308 pounds.
"I actually did moving all throughout college. A lot of moving jobs. Some that were 36 hours long," Harrison remembered. "I've been living out of a suitcase, a duffle bag. My suitcase itself weighs 80 pounds. So, I'm always paying baggage fees for that. That was the biggest thing I moved yesterday."
On the contrary, Harrison moved plenty of Ravens defensive lineman Sunday that weighed much more than that suitcase.
"Back in college, I used to get nervous a lot, but that really affects your play," said Harrison when asked about how he felt going into his first NFL start. "I was excited, of course, but I just tried to keep level-headed."
And his first snap as the starting center Sunday was just like one of those long moving jobs he had in college.
"It's just another day at work. We prepared for this," said Harrison. "Let's just go out here and play, go out here and compete. At the end of the day, do whatever it takes to get the job done."
On this Sunday, that meant both moving men down a football field and moving belongings up three flights of stairs. Just another day in the life of an undrafted free agent rookie trying to make a name for himself in the National Football League.
