UNK running back Isaiah Harris was delivering packages for Amazon in Omaha when he learned that he’d be returning to the football field in 2026.
The NCAA granted the senior a medical waver to return after a tibial plateau fracture on Sept. 27, 2025, cut what he thought would be his final season short after just five games.
“I got the text from (Associate Athletic director) Rachael (Page),” Harris told Hurrdat Sports. “I’m always expecting if Rachael texts, that it’s going to be like, ‘OK, there’s another letter that you have to write, and a couple more months and maybe we’ll find out,’ because that’s just what it felt like. But she was just like, ‘Yep, congratulations; you got it. We’re so excited.’ I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ and then instantly (head coach Ryan) Held called me probably eight times during that shift, telling me how lucky we are, and good stuff never happens to him, so what are the odds of this? I’m like, ‘I don’t know coach.’ It was very, very exciting.”
While the message brought good news, Harris said his stomach also dropped after he read it because of all the implications walking back through that door would carry.
“I don’t get nervous for football, ever, but this made me the most nervous I’ve probably been in a couple years,” Harris said. “My whole mind was flooded with moving back, girlfriend problems, traveling, this and that, all this financial stuff, and then the finisher was like, ‘Oh, football.’ It was like, ‘I get to play football again.’ I have to push myself to a point that I’ve never pushed myself, so I can hopefully get back to what I once was, the expectation that people have for me. That was the most drowning thought in my head, but I knew I can’t live off of that, I have to kind of come back step by step, day by day.”
The Millard South product suffered the injury attempting to catch a pass from redshirt junior quarterback Daron Bryden against Washburn.
“It felt almost like when people get in car accidents,” Harris said. “Everything feels normal, everything feels the same, it’s the same as the last day, it’s just a routine thing you do. I’m running a route, and then all of the sudden out of nowhere everything shuts off. You feel something that you’ve never felt in your life. It’s unexpected. You couldn’t brace for it, you couldn’t see it happening. It just happened.
“He hit me from behind; I was looking away. It was probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I don’t wish that upon anybody. I seriously thought my knee was on the side of my leg. I thought it was completely shifted or broken. It felt like somebody hit me with a sledgehammer almost, just right to the bone.”
Harris said he felt something was off throughout the day leading up to the game, though he didn’t know what it was. That unexplainable feeling proved prophetic.
“It’s the same feeling for me as like a sixth sense,” Harris said. “It’s not something you can explain, it’s not something you can point out, it’s just a feeling in the back of your head that’s like, ‘What is going on?’ It’s like a little alert or something. It’s almost just active, and you can’t seem to catch the groove with how the day’s supposed to be going. I couldn’t manifest anything, I couldn’t look and see our team doing anything crazy. I was very in the moment, which for most people that’s probably normal, but for me in a game, I kind of just let everything else take over.”
Prior to his injury, Harris led the league with 698 rushing yards on 89 carries. He also had six touchdowns. The 5-foot-8 back who began his career as a walk-on at Nebraska also totaled five receptions for 34 yards in the 2025 season.
In 2024, his first season with the Lopers, Harris earned second-team All-MIAA honors after carrying the ball 159 times for 825 yards and seven touchdowns while adding another 195 yards through the air on 19 receptions.
Harris underwent surgery to repair the fracture on Oct. 3 and began rehabbing in November. As grueling as the rehab itself can be, Harris said what he struggled with most is the uncertainty about his football future.
“I think a lot of the mental challenges have more so to do with the sport, not so much the injury,” Harris said. “The thought of not playing again, the thought of going out the way I did was very challenging to kind of process. I was kind of numb to it for a while, like I didn’t want to think about it, but when I did it was really, really, really tough. I can distract myself all day, but as soon as it becomes nighttime and everyone’s asleep and there’s no one to really talk to, my head just kind of starts spinning with these kinds of thoughts and stuff about football and whatnot.
“That led into dreams about playing again, which I don’t usually have dreams about football, but when I’m not playing, they are very prominent.”
That uncertainty is gone now, and Harris will get one more chance to end his career the way he desires. He said he’s been running, sprinting and lifting on top of rehab and is hoping to return for the Lopers’ first game in August.
“My goal is to win football games,” Harris said. “I want to do as much as I can, obviously. I don’t have the same mind set as I did last year, like abuse me and use me as much as you want; I don’t care. Now, I want to be able to be used productively, mostly with the hardware in my knee. I don’t want that to be an issue throughout the season. I know it most likely will be, but I just really want to make as big of an impact for the team as I can.”
Harris won’t know what he’s fully capable of until he is back on the field, but whatever his body will allow him to give, he plans to give it to his team.
“If I am able to fully go, and not have to worry about my knee, I’m going to do the most,” Harris said. “I’m going to do absolutely everything I can for the team. It’s not going to be really optional, it’s going to be like, ‘You have to put me in, there are no ifs, ands or buts.’ The only time I don’t want to be put in is if I’m hurt and I know I can’t be fully committed to whatever I’m doing. So if I’m good to go, I’m going to give it everything I have for sure.”
As much as Harris loves football itself, the thing he’s most excited about is returning to the locker room and the huddles and the practices and feeling the sense of camaraderie only a team sport like football can provide.
“It’s so dumb, but it’s like the minute someone gets hurt, or you’re not in pads suffering with the guys that you’ve been suffering with for years, it just feels like there’s nothing else exciting in your life to look forward to,” Harris said. “I’ve been with these dudes every day for years, every single day. The longest we go is two weeks for winter break. Even then, that’s too long; I get separation anxiety. I need to be around these guys all the time.
“That is what I missed the most when I got injured, and it truly felt like a piece of me was just left in Kearney in a sense. So I’m excited to suffer again with all the guys and just complain and moan and grown the whole time about football, and how much we hate it, but love it at the same time.”
The Lopers begin fall camp on Aug. 3. Their first game will be against Wayne State on Aug. 27.
