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Harris trade felt in Rockford

Posted August 03, 2007 11:00 pm

Reed Schreck

Lamont Jones was kidding Wednesday that he ought to buy Chris Harris a house in Rockford "considering how often he comes out."

Jones and former NFL star Mel Gray, who coaches girls track at Rockford Auburn, had brought about 40 children from Jones' NFL Flag Football of Rockford program to watch the Chicago Bears at training camp. They had guest passes courtesy of Harris, starting his third season with the team.

Thursday, Harris called Jones at 3 p.m.

"I could tell something was going on by the way his voice sounded," Jones said. "Kind of shaky."

The reason turned out to be that Harris had been traded to Carolina for a fifth-round pick in 2008. Instead of needing a house in Rockford, Harris probably will have to sell his Gurnee home - one that Jones has been a guest at.

"He's going to miss his teammates," Jones said. "But he understands it's a business, that he might get to start (with the Panthers) and he might be able to restructure his deal and get more money."

Jones developed a relationship with Harris that saw Harris come to Rockford at least four times, three with flag football functions.

"He doesn't have that Hollywood mentality," Jones said.

Harris visited Rockford's Discovery Center and Washington Park this summer. Knowing how disadvantaged some of the youth were, he handed out $20 bills to children when they made 3-point basketball shots.

"He'll stay in touch," Jones said. "He said he wants me to get a group together for the Carolina-Packer game (Nov. 18 in Green Bay). That's the next time he'll be in the area."

Jones, a security officer at Rockford Memorial Hospital, said he got 20 phone calls right after the trade was announced "asking me why did they do that? One lady was really upset."

Hester returns

Return man/receiver Devin Hester was back after two days off with hamstring soreness. He wore sweats over his game pants until sufficiently warmed up.

"I tried to test my leg, and it felt pretty good," Hester said. "I kinda gradually (worked back into it). I didn't want to just come out and explode off right away. I didn't want to put too much strain on my hamstring, so I came out and tested it every now and then. It feels pretty good right now."

Better have tickets

The Bears Family Night scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday at Soldier Field already is sold out. No tickets will be available for purchase at the event.

The Bears will take their first day off from training camp on Monday and resume workouts at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Olivet Nazarene University.

Camp sights

RB Garrett Wolfe (hamstring) and DT Antonio Garay (hamstring) ran on an adjacent field in the morning practice. Also remaining out were WR/returner Devin Hester (hamstring) and DE Dan Bazuin (knee). Getting the morning off were LB Lance Briggs, S Mike Brown, WR Muhsin Muhammad, OT John Tait and DE Alex Brown (shoulder). Only Muhammad did not practice at night out of that last group because of a third straight day of "general soreness," according to Lovie Smith. ... LB Hunter Hillenmeyer was absent in the morning and sat out the night practice (illness). He is expected back today. ... Bernard Berrian made the two best catches of the morning on passes from Rex Grossman. ... Kyle Orton was sharp other than fumbling one snap in a two-minute morning drill.

Reed Schreck is the NFL Writer for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at 815-987-1381 or rschreckrrstar.com.

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