Taylor Mays had started 32 consecutive games at free safety for USC, and each time, there was a familiar No. 4 right beside him on the field.
It wouldn't have been too surprising Saturday if Mays took his spot, didn't see Kevin Ellison, and said to the interloper, "Who the heck are you?"
Actually, it turned out that Mays had confidence in the strong safety taking over for Ellison, who will undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday to repair a damaged knee.
Introducing Will Harris, who had a simple enough assignment as the Trojans obliterated
Washington 56-0 at the Coliseum.
"We had to play without the best safety in the country today,"
Mays said, "and Will did everything he needed to do and show that he's second to none."
"He's one of the best athletes on the team, he's capable of making a lot of plays for us, being a dominant defensive force for us. He's a 2 (on the depth chart), but he'd play at any other school. He's like a 1A."
So here comes Harris, the redshirt junior from Charter Oak High who had to make his first start and replace a team captain, an All-America candidate and one of the all-time film-room players in USC history - not to mention his roommate.
"Man, it hurt my heart,"
Harris said, recalling the end of Thursday's practice when Ellison went down with torn cartilage in his right knee. "His senior year, we're almost at the end of the season, it hurt me to my heart."
"We went out there, we played for him. He helped me prepare so much for this game it's not even funny. We were up in the film room all week; he helped me out with jump routes and all that. I want to thank him and God."
It didn't take long for the returns on Harris' performance to come rolling in. On the third play of the game, Washington quarterback Ronnie Fouch tested him but couldn't beat him to the wide side of the field. Fouch tried to get deep, but Harris outran receiver D'Andre Goodwin.
Harris finished with six tackles, tying for the team high. He had 2.5 tackles for loss, the best effort on the team, and broke up a pass.
If anyone had any doubts, Harris was prepared for his shot.
"Oh yeah, I'm ready,"
he said. "The opportunity called, now they can call on me."
On Friday, secondary coach Rocky Seto lobbed Ellison a call.
"I talked to Kevin to try and cheer him up,"
Seto said, "and he goes `Man, I'm excited for Saturday. I'm excited to see Will play.' Just his reaction amongst his own storms, he was able to think about his buddy."
"Pretty neat."
Ellison was at the Coliseum until just before game time, just long enough to have some parting words for his understudy.
"He went home because he didn't want to sit out there, he wanted to rest his knee,"
Harris said. "The last thing he told me was, `Let's get it. You've prepared for this, this is your opportunity, take advantage of it.' I took that to heart because it is an opportunity and I've got to grab it."
Knowing that is one thing. Stepping on the field was still going be a touch treacherous.
"I ain't gonna lie, I was a little nervous,"
Harris said. "After the first hit, you know how it goes. The butterflies go away right there."
