Pac-12 awards Washington State return man Travell Harris weekly special teams honor

SAN FRANCISCO – Washington State senior Travell Harris was a scoring threat every time he touched the ball in the return game Saturday.

Harris was named the Pac-12’s special teams player of the week Monday after a stellar day returning punts and kicks during the Cougars’ 44-24 rout of Portland State.

The elusive 5-foot-9, 185-pound receiver from Tampa, Florida, broke free for 50 yards early in the second quarter on his only kickoff return of the day before being pushed out of bounds. On a short field, WSU’s offense scored with relative ease afterward.

He used hesitation moves to sail past defenders in the punt game, averaging 19.3 yards per each of his three returns, including a career-long of 22 yards.

His 50-yard return was his seventh return of 40-plus yards in his Coug career.

Harris is WSU’s record holder in kick returns (69), kick-return yardage (1,745) and is No. 10 on the school’s career all-purpose yards list (3,194). He caught six passes for 80 yards and scored two receiving touchdowns against the Vikings as well.

“Not just in receiving, he was great in all his returns,” WSU coach Nick Rolovich said after the game. “He’s such a dynamic player and such a dynamic personality. It’s very infectious. I’m very happy for him because he’s worked hard switching offenses. He’s got a really mature sense of the game and he may be a head coach someday.”

Harris has earned the award just once before – in 2018, after he raced 100 yards on a kickoff return against Eastern Washington.