Oklahoma football: Ranking the all-time, top-10 Sooner QBs
By Chip Rouse
No. 8 — Jimmy Harris, Oklahoma quarterback (1954-56)
Jimmy Harris was another two-way player who played under legendary coach Bud Wilkinson in what was arguably the greatest three years in Sooner football history.
He was the Sooner’s quarterback during the team’s epic 47-game winning streak. He never made All-Big Seven but he also never lost a game in which he started at quarterback. Harris is the only OU quarterback who can make that claim. He was a perfect 25-0, and two of those teams (1955 and 1956 won national championships.
Harris almost didn’t go to Oklahoma. He originally committed to Texas A&M to play for Paul “Bear” Bryant, but Bud Wilkinson convinced him to come to Oklahoma. The rest is history.
Harris was more of a running quarterback in Oklahoma’s offense. He rushed for 1,237 yards and 11 touchdowns in his three seasons at OU. That is almost 500 more yards than his career passing total for the Sooners. He threw just 80 total passes in three seasons for 745 yards and 10 touchdowns.
A fifth-round draft pick of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in 1957, Harris played four seasons of professional football with four different teams, primarily at defensive back.
Harris died in 2011, at the age of 76, of lung cancer.