Cliff Harris, a consensus all-American cornerback and kick returner for Oregon in 2010 who has had numerous run-ins with police over the years, was arrested again early Sunday morning on misdemeanor theft, possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia charges along with a felony probation violation in Clovis, Calif., the Oregonian reported Monday.
Here is his mug shot:
In 2010, Harris had six interceptions and set Oregon season records for punt return touchdowns, punt return yardage and punt return average as the Ducks advanced to the Bowl Championship Series title game. But in June 2011, Harris was clocked driving 118 mph on a suspended license. The officer who pulled him over also noted the smell of marijuana in the car, to which Harris responded, “We smoked it all.”
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Suspended by then-coach Chip Kelly for the start of Oregon’s 2011 campaign, Harris eventually played in six games that year before he was suspended again for a host of other traffic violations, and a marijuana-possession charge in December brought his Oregon career to a close with his permanent dismissal.
After Oregon, Harris tried to catch on with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets, but the latter team released him in May 2013 after another marijuana-possession arrest in New Jersey. Four days after that charge, he was arrested for domestic harassment outside a Buffalo Wild Wings in Oregon, though the woman he was with declined to press charges.
In December 2015, Harris was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation after he pleaded no contest to a felony arson charge for starting a fire in a grassy street median in Fresno, Calif. He was not allowed to use drugs or drink alcohol under the terms of his probation, and this latest arrest was deemed to be a violation of those terms.
At his sentencing hearing, a court-appointed psychiatrist said Harris suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas.” However, the Mayo Clinic and others claim that such a diagnosis can only be made after a person has died.
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