BEREA, Ohio — Nick Harris had a taste of what it meant to start at center for the Cleveland Browns last season, making just his second pro-start of his career against the Green Bay Packers.
However, with former Brown JC Tretter out of the picture, the 2020 draft pick has a chance to fill the shoes of the snapper before him going into this season.
Head Coach Kevin Stefanski mentioned at training camp on Thursday the development of Harris is credited, in part, to the “pitch count” Tretter was on, giving the young buck snaps at center.
“With Nick, as you know, he practiced so much because Tretter was really on a pitch count if you will, and we were being careful with JC’s knees throughout his career,” Stefanski said. “With Nick, we saw a lot of him. There were a ton of reps that we got with him.”
Stefanski also credited those early reps during practice with helping accelerate Harris in being prepared to move into the starting role.
“There is nothing like doing,” he said. “You can be up on the board as much as you want, but doing the job is really what will allow you to learn any of those tasks.”
Guard Joel Bitonio said that Harris has always been “quick” and “athletic,” but mentioned his teammate has worked on his strength and size to compete with teams such as the Ravens and the Steelers.
“Eventually when you play Baltimore and you play Pittsburgh twice a year, they’re going to have a nose guard that's like 350 in front of you at some point and you’ve got to be able to sit on that,” Bitonio said. “You’ve got to be able to double team that guy and he’s really working to do that and continue to learn the nuances of the offense.”
Even with big shoes to fill, Bitonio is confident in Harris being successful in the position.
“Obviously JC was very experienced and had seen pretty much anything you can throw at him,” Bitonio said. “But Nick’s working his way there and he’s trying to learn the playbook as good as possible and he’s gotten tons of reps. So, we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do out there.”
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