Woodson was made aware of the ever-burning fire in Harris before he even talked to him. Their position coach at the time, Lionel Washington, warned Woodson that Harris would never let another player outwork him.
That introduction to Harris put an appreciation in place before Woodson really got to know him, and the serious, business-like approach Harris referred to simply took over at times.
"Coming out at practice, me and Al would look at each other and he'd say, 'Hey, are we working today?' I'm like, 'Let's work today,'" Woodson said. "And what that meant was the young guys weren't getting any reps. It was all me and Al.
"If it was a hot day, we might take a play off, but other than that, no young guys got any reps. They didn't like that too much, but that's the way we pushed each other. I believe that's the reason we're both here."
Harris was selected to two Pro Bowls and Woodson four during their time with the Packers, with both getting chosen in 2008, the year before Woodson won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year.
They both played seven seasons in Green Bay, and both played elsewhere before and after, but enjoying their best years here. Harris is now an assistant defensive backs coach on former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy's staff in Dallas, while Woodson – inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last month – continues to be involved with numerous charitable and media endeavors.
Individually and collectively, their toughness as players set a standard in the locker room that wasn't lost on anyone. They both played through, and came back from, serious injuries to set that example.
Harris missed just four games in Green Bay before a torn ACL late in the 2009 season turned out to end his playing days with the Packers. Woodson missed only three games until his last year here in 2012, when a broken collarbone – his second after suffering the same injury in Super Bowl XLV – cost him half of his final Packers season.
The team's current head athletic trainer, Bryan Engel, who presented Woodson for induction Thursday, said the locker-room presence of the pair is still talked about amongst the medical staff.
"Really it's hard to mention Charles without mentioning Al, because those two together … pound for pound, the toughest two players I've ever come across in the National Football League," Engel said.
And now they've gone into the Packers Hall of Fame together. The only way it could be? The only way it should be.
"For it to happen, for it to happen now, to go in with 'Wood,' I'm super-stoked," Harris said. "It means the world to me."
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'The only way it could be': Charles Woodson, Al Harris enter Packers Hall of Fame together - Packers.com
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