Ellicott City Players Aid Towson's Stunning Revival

The national championship game for Division I-AA football will be held Jan. 6 in Texas. Justin Harris of Ellicott City will graduate from Towson University on Jan. 8 with a degree in economics.

"That would be a good way to go out," said Harris, a 2007 graduate of  who is a senior defensive back on the football team at Towson.

That may be a stretch - the idea of Towson playing for a national title - but this season has already been a magical one for the Tigers.

The Tigers were 1-10 overall last year and 6-26 in three years under head coach Rob Ambrose before 2011. But Towson is headed to post-season play after ending regular-season action this past Saturday with a 28-17 win at Rhode Island that gave the Tigers the CAA title one year after finishing last in the league.

Towson will get a first-round bye and host Patriot League champion Lehigh on Dec. 3 in suburban Baltimore. The Tigers are 9-2 and were 7-1 in the tough CAA, which has five teams in post-season play. It will be the first post-season appearance for Towson since 1986.

"It is definitely a good feeling. It is a good way to go out. All of the hard work paid off," Harris said. "It is a good feeling on campus. We are finally getting the respect we deserve."

"Justin has had a crazy career," Ambrose said. "He has been on both sides of the ball. He was a wideout then a cornerback the next week out of sheer necessity (last year). It was an admirable effort as a team player. He does what he can to help the team."

Other Ellicott City residents on the Towson team include redshirt freshman linebacker Trey Jackson () and redshirt freshman wide receiver Spencer Wilkins, a walk-on and former All-County player at .

"Both are scratching the surface of what they can do in the future. They are homegrown products and we are glad we have them," Ambrose said.

Harris played in the first 11 games, with nine starts, and had 37 tackles. He had four tackles at Rhode Island. Jackson played in eight of the first 11 games, with one start, and had seven tackles.

Wilkins played in 10 of the first 11 games, with one start, and had one tackle and also had nine catches for 123 yards and one touchdown with the longest play for 36 yards.

So how did Towson go from worst to first? "We are going to try and do 15 years of work in five," said Ambrose.

Last year Harris, 22, played in nine games with three starts. He started three games at cornerback after making the move from wide receiver.

"In high school I played cornerback. It was not foreign to me," Harris said. "By me playing offense (at Towson), it helped with the transition (to defense) as far as schemes" and knowing the position.

Baltimore native Harris, who is a fan of Ravens' defensive back Ed Reed, is the son of Ellis Harris and Jackie Horton and his father lives in Ellicott City.

At Centennial he played for coach Jamie Wagner and was the Eagles' most valuable player two times. He had 24 touchdowns in his prep career and ran for 1,409 yards and caught 33 passes.

Harris plans to look for a job in the economics field next year and also keep in shape, with an eye on trying to sign on with a pro team as a possible free agent. But first he hopes to help Towson on another improbable run - this time to the Division I-AA title game.