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PHILADELPHIA - Eagles rookie safety Victor Harris entered training camp as a fifth-round draft pick with little more than a cool nickname and loads of potential.

"My dad gave me the nickname 'Macho' when I was very young," Harris said last week. "He always said it was because I was a very challenging little boy."

Five weeks later, Harris is the starting safety. Coach Andy Reid confirmed Tuesday on his radio show that Harris will start at free safety and Omar Gaither will be the middle linebacker Sunday against Carolina.

According to the Eagles, Harris took all the snaps with the first-team defense during Monday's brief workout.

Harris, who beat out Quintin Demps for the safety job, will be the first Eagles rookie defensive player to start a season opener since defensive tackle Corey Simon in 2000.

"I'm a pretty confident guy and if it happens, I'll be ready for it," Harris said. "I still have a lot of learning to do, but I feel comfortable back there. I think if I just focus on my assignments and do what I need to do, I'll be fine."

Pretty heady stuff for a guy who was just hoping to win a spot on the 53-man roster a few weeks ago. Top draft picks such as wide receiver Jeremy Maclin (first round) and running back LeSean McCoy (second) were guaranteed to make the team. That was not the case for late-round choices such as Harris, wide receiver Brandon Gibson (sixth) and and linebacker Moise Fokou (seventh). They needed to show the coaches during training camp and the preseason that they were capable of at least playing supporting roles.

All three rose to the challenge and survived the weekend's roster cuts. Gibson will likely be restricted to special teams this season. Fokou will start there as well, but may also wind up getting some playing time at middle linebacker.

"When you're a seventh-round pick like I was, you always feel like you have one foot in the door and one foot out," Fokou said last week. "And on top of that, I've never played middle linebacker in my life. But I've always felt that as long as you have heart and play physical, you can make it."

Harris used the same approach.

He had never played safety before joining the Eagles - he was a cornerback at Virginia Tech - but readily accepted the switch. He began training camp as the third-string free safety behind Demps and Rashad Baker, who was eventually released and wound up re-signing with Oakland.

"Macho has great awareness, great instincts," Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said last week. "When you are a football player, regardless of what position you play, you personify those characteristics. You could move a safety to defensive tackle and you still see football awareness and football instincts."

Harris' biggest problem was a sprained ankle that hampered his progress early in camp, then flared up again during the preseason.

Instead of easing off, he continued to play through the pain and wound up delivering impressive efforts against Jacksonville and the New York Jets, respectively.

"When you get to this level, you have to tough it out," Harris said. "Coach McDermott is always telling us that we're fighting for jobs, so I just tried to hang in there. The way I looked at it, my sprained ankle was a minor setback that let me make a major comeback."

Harris is no stranger to comebacks.

In December 2004, he was a high school senior in Highland Springs, Va. His mother, Maritza, was cooking a meal prior to a visit from the Virginia Tech coaching staff. When she went to the store to buy french fries, a grease fire broke out on the stove. Harris suffered third-degree burns on his arm while putting it out.

Ten days after the fire, on Christmas night, Maritza suffered a fatal brain aneurysm.

Three years later, Harris was at Virginia Tech when Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the campus before also killing himself.

"The football team had meetings that morning," Harris said. "I was actually supposed to go to class in the building next to where the shootings took place, but I saw a bunch of police cars around there and knew something had happened, so I went back to my apartment.

"In tough times, I just rely on God to get me through. He's been a part of my life my whole life. It's been hard, but I know He put me in these situations for a reason. I just keep fighting."

E-mail David Weinberg:

DWeinberg@pressofac.com

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