BEREA — Jerome Harrison was either being coy or humble. Or a bit of both.

With rookie Montario Hardesty out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Harrison is clearly the No. 1 running back of the Browns.

“I am?” he said Monday after practice.

He is.

For the first time since the Browns drafted him in the fifth round in 2006, Harrison heads into the season opener — Sunday at Tampa Bay — as the starter and the guy expected to get the bulk of the carries.

“I have a great opportunity,” he said. “I’m playing with a great offensive line, the best fullback (Lawrence Vickers) in the league and just give me a chance to go out there and run and have fun and be very productive and do whatever I need to do to help this team win.”

You would think his 561 yards rushing in the final three games of 2009 might guarantee Harrison the starting role. But Hardesty was a threat to take the job after being drafted in the second round and impressing coaches in spring practices.

That’s no longer an issue. But to listen to Harrison, the absence of Hardesty doesn’t change anything.

“Not at all,” he said. “Go to work every day, bust my butt and whatever happens is going to happen.”
Coach Eric Mangini doesn’t think it’s just a line.

“I never got the sense from Jerome that the things that he was going to do were going to be dependent on somebody else,” Mangini said. “You don’t ever want that.

“Jerome has certain goals, he has certain things that he wants to achieve. It wasn’t based on Montario being here. It was based on what he wanted to do for him. That’s a very healthy approach.”

The fantastic finish to 2009 got the attention of NFL insiders and fantasy football owners alike. Harrison set a Browns record with 286 rushing yards vs. the Chiefs, and the 561 were a club record and the eighth most in NFL history over a three-game stretch.

He said there isn’t pressure to live up to the huge numbers. Instead, he views them as a healthy challenge.

“I’m definitely going to run for it and we’re going to have a good time doing it,” he said. “I don’t worry about pressure. Go out there and play and have fun. Love me or hate me, I’m going to show up and run hard.”

The Browns have options at tailback, even without Hardesty.

Peyton Hillis offers a 240-pound change of pace, while James Davis is in the discussion of fastest players on the team. Mangini likes to keep defenses guessing, but said Harrison will get lots of chances with the ball.
He had trouble hanging onto the ball in the preseason, including a fumble returned for a touchdown in Detroit, and averaged 3.1 yards on 23 carries in three games.

“He understands the things that he has to do and he understands the great opportunity that he has in front of him,” Mangini said. “I expect him to seize that opportunity like he did last year and run with it.”

“Jerome Harrison had a breakout year and he will capitalize on it, I’m sure,” receiver Joshua Cribbs said. “He’s been working very good in camp.”

Harrison has always insisted he doesn’t read newspapers – he prefers to watch cartoons, from “The Flintstones” to “Family Guy” – so he wasn’t aware of all the hype surrounding Hardesty. He said he never discussed his role with the coaches, and didn’t prepare any differently for the looming battle to be the featured back.

“I trained the same way in the offseason,” Harrison said. “He was there when I trained, I was there when he trained. No different mind-set. No nothing.”

Undersized at 5-foot-9, 205 pounds, Harrison has been the underdog for a long time. He started at a junior college before finishing at Washington State, where he set the school record with 1,900 rushing yards in 2005.

That did little for his draft status or to ensure playing time with the Browns. He started one game before last season’s seven, and his 862 rushing yards in 2009 nearly doubled the total from his first three years.

“I’ve been proving myself about 21 years now,” he said. “I’ve been playing since I was 6, so 21 years. It’s nothing new, just a different level.”

Harrison is a confident player, but the happy ending to 2009 didn’t inflate his head. He got married to Michelle in the offseason and said he spent the time away from Browns headquarters working out, hanging at home with his bride and setting goals.

“The ones I will share is, I’m going to go out and run hard,” Harrison said. “I’m going to give this city everything I’ve got every time I’m out there. I’m going to try my hardest to turn this program around and do whatever I can do to do it.”

Contact Scott Petrak at (440) 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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