ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

October 28, 2023

Champ Harris

Press Conference

UMass 21, Army 14

Q. What prevented you guys from keeping up that sort of momentum in this one?

CHAMP HARRIS: It was huge for our confidence. Not just me, everybody. Getting a big explosive play like that, that really fired us up. That got us going, especially me. I don't know if you all saw me after the play, but I was hyped. It definitely got everybody going. That was huge for momentum, and as the game went on, we saw some things we liked in the run game, some things we wanted to do, so we started leaning towards that.

We've all got to do our job. We've all got to do it better. We fought hard, but we didn't come out with it today.

Q. As you go through these next few weeks on offense working with Bryson a little bit, how has your relationship with Bryson grown, and what do you think is the biggest trait that he's gained from you and you've gained from him over the past few weeks as you share snaps in the backfield?

CHAMP HARRIS: Our relationship is great. I love Bryson. I'm sure Bryson loves me. Our relationship is great. I've learned a lot of things from him, even running the ball-wise. He runs hard. He doesn't let people tackle him, and he always runs hard, gets behind his pads.

Things Bryson has learned from me? Actually I don't know what he's learned from me, but I would say I've learned a lot from him. He's been a great role model, great mentor, and our relationship is great.

Q. What did you see on that 36-yard touchdown that made this a one-possession game, and what did UMass do to shut that down?

CHAMP HARRIS: (Inaudible) receiver, and then the defense dropped, so I could easily get enough to get the 1st down, and then when I just ran, I was hungry. Wide receivers did a great job blocking when I was running. I was able to break a tackle and get in the end zone.

Unfortunately we just ran out of time at the end. It was a Hail Mary situation. That's what happened. We just ran out of time.

We're just going to keep working hard, keep pushing this week, keep moving forward.

Q. Talk about your emotions after the game. You said you ran out of time. Talk about how you feel about the way things ended for you guys?

CHAMP HARRIS: I'm just heartbroken. All the guys in the locker room are, too, trying to pick everybody up. We've got to get focused on this week, but we're all heartbroken right now, especially because it was right there. Like we were grabbing on to it, and it just slipped out of our hands. We're all definitely heartbroken, but I think we're going to use this -- I don't think, I know we're going to use this as motivation this week, coming into this week against Air Force. It's going to be a big motivator, but we're definitely heartbroken right now.

Q. From your point of view, how do you think you can jump start this offense?

CHAMP HARRIS: It all starts with us, everybody, all 11 people. We've all got to do our 1/11th, do our assignment, do it to the best of our ability. We've got to keep fighting hard, knock out the mental errors. We've got to protect the football.

When we throw the ball, we've got to make sure it's completions. Everybody has to do their job, and we've got to do it very well. That's what we've got to do.

Q. Did it seem like that was a play where maybe you can (indiscernible) in the future?

CHAMP HARRIS: It was a huge boost. I love running the ball. Of course getting running touchdowns is amazing. But it was a huge boost of confidence, not only for me but for the entire team. From the moment I saw my guys, went to go celebrate with everybody, the receivers, the running backs, the defense. Everybody was hyped, so it was a huge boost of confidence, and we're looking forward to doing more of that throughout the rest of the season.

Q. You, Kanye and Brady are all freshmen on this team and you're getting some valuable snaps. How valuable are these snaps going to be going forward in your career?

CHAMP HARRIS: They're very valuable. They're extremely valuable. Us getting those reps, the more reps you get, the more reps you do something anything in life, the better you'll be at it. Us getting reps now this early, that's huge for all of us. Tobi Olawole, as well, we're all getting decent reps. It's going to be huge for us in our careers here.

The more we keep doing this, the more we keep getting reps, the better we'll get, and you'll see it. It's extremely huge for us.

Q. The last four games have not gone your way, but what's the biggest positive you can take from this as you go into a vital rivalry game?

CHAMP HARRIS: Biggest positive? Honestly, this is just motivation. This gives us huge motivation. Like you said, the last four games, but especially this one, this one hurt a lot. This is huge motivation. We can definitely take this into next week. The motivation is already there to get the trophy back.

To beat Air Force, this is just stacked on top of that. That's a huge plus coming out of this game.