Desmond Harrison prepares for Steelers along with Greg Robinson. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- Almost exactly one year ago, Desmond Harrison retweeted a story about Browns left tackle Joe Thomas becoming the only player in NFL history to play 10,000 consecutive snaps, using a flexed-muscle emoji to celebrate the incredible feat.

Little did Harrison know at the time that he'd replace the future Hall of Famer when the Browns open the season Sunday against the Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium -- as an undrafted rookie who took a three-year hiatus from the football field in college. Hue Jackson made it official on Friday, but all signs were pointing to Harrison getting the nod, and Joel Bitonio moving back to left guard.

That Harrison (6-6, 295) is even on an NFL roster after veering so far off track in college and in the pre-draft process is remarkable.

After getting kicked out of Texas following the 2014 season -- a year in which he was suspended three times, tested positive a few times for weed, was shot in the backside and never saw the field -- he sat out of football for two more years, trying to figure out his next move.

But he put his head down, relied on his faith and worked his way back onto the football field, this time at tiny Division II West Georgia on the border of Georgia and Alabama. It wasn't the enormous stage of Texas, but it was just what the big man needed to get his life and football career back on track.

After Harrison, 24, went undrafted because of off-the-field concerns and a failed drug test at the NFL Combine, the Browns scrambled to sign him as a free agent, beating the Giants to the punch.

Now, he's got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to step in for Thomas and erase those three lost years.

"I had a first-round grade on him," said one longtime NFL scout. "There's not 16 better starting left tackles in the league than this kid if he can do the right things."

It's the stuff that NFL dreams are made of, and here's how it all went down:

By Mary Kay Cabot

Cleveland.com

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1. Go West, Young Man

Harrison was born in Houston and grew up with mostly hoop dreams as he approached 6-6. Bouncing around to three different high schools in part because of his challenging upbringing, he started out in Houston as a freshman and then moved to North Carolina as a sophomore with his mom, who raised him and his two siblings by herself. His dad, who had a checkered past of his own, was not in the picture.

As a senior, he transferred to Oak Ridge (N.C.) Military Academy, where the football coach persuaded him to switch from basketball to football.

"I felt it would give him the best chance to play in high school and the pros,'' Otis Yelverton, now the Assistant Director of Player Personnel at Florida, told cleveland.com. "He's probably the most athletic player I've ever coached. He's a freakish athlete."

Despite playing only that one season at offensive line, Harrison became a three-star recruit out of high school, and had an offer from Auburn. But he didn't have the grades to enroll, and followed Yelverton out to Contra Costa (Calif.) Community College, where he played for two seasons.

As a sophomore in 2012, Harrison was named first-team JUCO All-American and became the highest-rated junior college offensive lineman. Most of the big-time schools took notice. After making official visits to USC, Oklahoma, Arizona State and N.C. State, Harrison committed to Texas, where he was won over by assistant coaches Bo Davis and Stacy Searels, and head coach Mack Brown.

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2. 'This may be a top 5 pick in the draft'

Texas offensive line coach Stacy Searels, now at the University of Miami, flipped on Harrison's California tape and nearly fell out of his chair.

"The first video I ever saw, I thought he was the most athletic big man I've ever seen at any level," Searels told cleveland.com. "He can run as fast as anybody on the field. He's out pulling in front, blocking DBs, taking the D-end and dumping him and continuing to run down the field and he was just a very, very athletic kid."

Searels and Davis visited Harrison and his mom in North Carolina, and found a very personable and gracious young man.

"I loved the kid," said Searels. "He's got a great personality, beautiful smile, bright eyes, and he wanted to be good."

The first day Searels, a former Auburn lineman himself, got to work with Harrison, he thought, "Wow, this may be a top 5 pick in the NFL draft." He had coached plenty of future NFL linemen, including former Bengal and current Ram Andrew Whitworth, a four-time Pro Bowler.

But Harrison ran into another academic snag when issues rose over some transfer credits, and he wasn't able to practice for his first four or five weeks with the team.

"Then he hurt his ankle and that set him back,'' said Searels. "There were many setbacks that year."

Still, Searels "played him the first week even though he had only practiced a few times because I knew he was that talented. I just wanted to get him on the field."

Harrison, who fell in with the wrong crowd at Texas and started making some bad choices, played in only seven games as a junior as a backup.

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3. 'We thought we'd only have him for one year'

Brown was convinced that Harrison would be one and done for the Longhorns.

"He was so good, we thought we'd only have him for one year and then he'd be drafted high," Brown told cleveland.com. "But he missed so much time, he got behind. Coach Searels and I both thought he was the most talented lineman we had ever seen. We were really disappointed when it took so long for him to get cleared academically. He had freakish ability and we loved him as a kid."

Brown said Harrison maintained his attitude even though he wasn't playing much.

"He practiced hard every day,'' said Brown. "He was very upbeat and positive."

Still, Harrison was on a slippery slope of smoking weed, running with the wrong crowd and jeopardizing his career.

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4. Brown gets fired and Charlie Strong takes over

Brown and his staff were fired after the 2013 season, and Charlie Strong took over. Determined to make a statement, Strong came down hard on a number of players, including Harrison.

One source said he sought he was particularly determined to clean up the weed-smoking among offensive linemen. He said Harrison tested positive for marijuana a couple of times that year, which resulted in some of his three suspensions. The source also said that Harrison was very open with teams about that when he talked to them at the combine in February.

Strong could not be reached for comment.

Harrison's West Georgia coach, David Dean, also told cleveland.com that Strong suspended Harrison for being in a car when a group of his friends robbed a convenience store.

"(Harrison) didn't go into the store," said Dean. "He just happened to be in the car. He had nothing to do with it. But the coaches had admitted to us they were making a statement for all of the guys on the team because it was a new staff coming in.

"Unfortunately he was one of those guys where it was guilt by association even though he had nothing to do with it." Harrison never made it on the field in 2014 despite a scout saying he "was the best player in the program, hands down.''

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5. Wrong place at the wrong time again

Harrison went to Oakland over spring break that year and got shot in the behind, something he admitted to teams at the combine, the source said.

"All the teams knew about it, but the details were sketchy," the scout said. "The story was 'wrong place, wrong time.' It was out in broad daylight."

A source said Harrison was with a friend, who "used him as a muscle guy, and Desmond isn't a muscle guy. He got shot while fleeing the scene.''

Harrison hasn't been available to the media this week because the starting left tackle announcement hasn't yet been made. But the incident may have contributed to his demise at Texas. In January of 2015, the school made it clear that Harrison was no longer in the team's plans and wouldn't return for the following season.

"Charlie Strong gave Desmond every opportunity to be successful, but he just made some bad choices while he was at Texas,'' said Yelverton.

Mack Brown, hired by ESPN as an analyst after he left Texas, was disheartened to see Harrison go. He liked him as a person, with his engaging personality and big heart.

"We just thought it was such a waste of a good young man and a tremendous talent,'' said Brown.

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6. Harrison spends two more years out of football

After sitting out all of 2014 at Texas, Harrison spent two more years out of football, working for a moving company in North Carolina and plotting his next step. Uncertain about his future, he kept his football dreams flickering.

"He was working, earning money, just wanting to get back into football and he did a great job of keeping himself in shape, so when his opportunity did come, it wasn't going to pass him by,'' said West Georgia coach David Dean. "I commend him on that. I think he knew his potential and how much he loved the game of football and that at some point he was going to get back in it and that's exactly what he did. He worked his fanny off and kept himself in shape."

Dean explained that Harrison wasn't eligible to go back to Division I after two years out of football, but could go down to Division II.

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7. West Georgia comes calling

Harrison was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do when a West Georgia assistant told Dean, "'There's a guy sitting out here I think you need to take a look at. He's a guy that I think is an NFL-type player and he wants to play again.'"

The Wolves reached out, Harrison came to visit and "the next thing you know, we've got him here,'' said Dean.

Dean found a young man who was humble and hungry after three years in limbo.

"He wanted a chance and he wanted to make the most of his opportunity,'' said Dean. "You could just feel his passion and his desire to make this successful and how much he loved the game of football."

Dean talked to Charlie Strong, who gave a thumb's-up.

"They're the ones that said 'he's not a bad kid,''' Dean said. "He said 'If I were in your shoes I'd take him.'"

Dean said Harrison was remorseful about all that had transpired, "but he never really complained and said 'hey I was done wrong.' He just took it and went on with it. It was just a matter of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, and unfortunately he had to pay for it. We never had a single minute of a problem with him while he was there."

Dean said Harrison was drug-tested several times at West Georgia without a bad result. He said Harrison also stayed away from the local hangers-on who sometimes led players astray.

"He never got involved in that because he knew what his future could be and he didn't want to jeopardize that.

"But more importantly, he was a team player. He was always watching film, he was always hanging around the coaches and when he had spare time, he was always in the football offices.''

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8. A man amongst boys

A rejuvenated Harrison tore up the Gulf South Conference, starting nine of his 10 games at left tackle and earning First Team Division-II All-American honors, despite missing three games with a sprained knee.

"You put on the tape and he was dominant,'' said the longtime NFL scout. "It was laughable at times, like something you'd see in a movie. He's running guys out of bounds, punching guys to the ground and then you go out to practice and you watch him, and just the way he bends and moves, his quickness, he's got really, really special tools."

"When he locks onto you and gets ahold of you, he's going to push you all the way to the whistle,'' said Dean. "He's not a dirty player at all. He's a great finisher.

"In this league, he's driven guys 10-15 yards down the field and buried them at the end. But he doesn't stand over them, doesn't clap in their face, just kind of, 'Hey that's my job, that's what I'm going to do' and goes onto the next play. He's an excitable player.

"When we make great plays he celebrates with his team. He does the right things on the field. He's that type of player."

Dean said after Harrison sprained his medial collateral ligament midway through the season, "he wasn't 100 percent, but he was still a dominant player.''

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9. Senior Bowl invite

Harrison was thrilled to be invited to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., an all-star game for some of the nation's best players. It was his opportunity to shine in front of teams that may not have seen him play live at West Georgia.

But the knee didn't check out and Senior Bowl officials wouldn't let him participate.

"He was really upset,'' said the scout.

Harrison also checked in at only 279 pounds, which sent up a red flag. Was he off-track again? Still smoking weed? Why was he having trouble keeping the weight on?

"I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that didn't have a lot of money,'' Dean explained. "I don't think he was eating properly. He was working very, very hard especially with his knee, and he dropped weight because he wasn't eating properly.

"Our problem at our level is we can't afford to feed guys like that. They're on a school meal plan and they have to eat on their own."

Said the scout: "It made you wonder what would he look like if he was 315, because he's so naturally powerful and explosive. What would this dude look like if he was carrying the weight that he should be carrying? It was pretty scary because he was abusive. He was a bully at 275 pounds.''

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10. Combine rebound

By the time the combine rolled around, Harrison was at 292 and his knee was healthy enough for a time of 4.9 seconds in the 40-yard dash, fastest among offensive linemen. He also handled his interviews well, addressing his off-the-field concerns.

"You get to sit with the kid and talk to him and he has some charisma,'' said the scout. "He presents himself really well. He presents himself with confidence. He's got a great handshake. He looks you in the eye.

"He owns up to a lot of stuff in his background, so you kind of buy into the guy, especially the way he plays. He plays his tail off. He plays so hard and tough that you want to be in the boat with the guy, because of how physically talented he is and then his play-style.

"It's hard to find offensive linemen the way that kid finishes blocks. It was impressive."

But, said the scout, teams were still wary.

"The red flags scared off a lot of teams,'' he said.

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11. The failed drug test

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller first reported around draft day that Harrison was one of three players who failed drug tests at the NFL Combine, and a source confirmed that for cleveland.com. The others were Texas cornerback Holton Hill, signed as an undrafted rookie by the Vikings, and Florida receiver Antonio Callaway, whom the Browns drafted in the fourth round.

Harrison also admitted it in his interview on Friday.

"It didn't surprise me about Harrison,'' said one source.

The failed drug test landed Harrison in Stage One of the NFL's Substance Abuse program, where he's tested randomly on a regular basis.

"He has no choice to stay clean now or he'll throw it all away,'' said a source.

Said Yelverton: "Desmond is good-hearted guy. You're not going to find a better person. But he sometimes doesn't make good decisions and it's cost him. If he gets his head on straight, he has an opportunity to be one of the best offensive lineman in the NFL for the next 14 or 15 years.''

Still, the scout was shocked that he went undrafted given that his primary issue was weed and his tremendous upside potential.

"I thought Antonio Callaway was a much greater roll of the dice than Desmond Harrison,'' said the scout.

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Desmond Harrison started against the Lions. (Paul Sancya, Associated Press)

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12. The Browns took a gamble, and now he might start

The Browns, a team of second chances under GM John Dorsey, gambled on Harrison as they did Callaway, signing the tackle days after the draft.

"If the kid can stay on the straight and narrow, it's a steal,'' said a scout.

Harrison missed the first two weeks of camp with a toe injury, but was soon moved up to second-team left tackle behind Bitonio. Now, he could move into the No. 1 spot as early as Sunday.

"That's a lot of pressure, but if anyone has the right demeanor for it, he does,'' said Dean.

Said Yelverton: "To go from undrafted free agent to starting left tackle, he doesn't understand how well the Lord has blessed him. Hue Jackson reached out and took a gamble on him, and hopefully Desmond will show his appreciation and do the right things.''

Said the scout, "I'm telling you, he's their most talented offensive lineman. I know they've picked guys high in the last couple of drafts but Joel Bitonio and Austin Corbett, those guys are nice players but it's not close in terms of upside ceiling."

The Browns know they must keep a tight rein on Harrison. But they've had no problems with him so far.

Said Searels, "That kid's got the ability to be a starter in the NFL, there's no doubt in my mind. Some kids make a mistake and they need a second chance. I hope and pray the kid has learned from his mistakes and can use the God-given ability he's got.

"It would be a great comeback story."