Dennis Harris knew he couldn’t see.

In class, the Armwood High junior would sit at the very front of the room, still needing to squint to see the board.

“Sometimes, I’d ask my teacher to continue to zoom in and still I couldn’t see,” Harris said.

On the football field, it was worse.

The wide receiver dropped balls he normally would catch. At practices, when passes slipped through his hands, coaches, knowing his situation wouldn’t yell out the normal “keep your eye on the ball.”

They knew Harris couldn’t.

““He never complained,” Armwood offensive coordinator Evan Davis said. “The biggest thing for him is that he's just adjusted his whole life like this and has never complained, just adjusted to it.”

Harris failed a vision test during a football physical prior to the start of the season. With his family unable to afford glasses, the wide receiver accepted his vision for what it was – bad.

“I told my mom and stuff but she couldn’t get the glasses for me,” Harris said. “So there was really nothing I could do except struggle.”

That was unacceptable to another football player who knows firsthand how blurry the world is without glasses. A Pro Bowl player who made it a personal vision quest to get Harris help.

Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy wreaks havoc on opposing offenses. He has great vision on the football field. But McCoy knows what it’s like not being able to see.  So when he heard Harris’ story, he wanted to help.

“When you grow up and can't see, you really don't know what the problem is,” McCoy said. “You just know somethings going on. Until you really, somebody points out what the issue is, and you're like, I'm struggling with my vision, you really don't know.

“Me growing up I knew I needed glasses, so anybody, you know I hear like that, I want to help. Especially a football player.”

First, Harris needed a proper eye exam. Dr. Kevin Smith of Infinity Eye Care in Tampa volunteered his services.

“His vision uncorrected is 20/70 and in layman terms, that means he sees at 20 feet what I see at 70 feet,” Smith said. “With the small correction he’s seeing 20/15.

“It will be a night and day difference for him, not only in school but on the field too.”

Infinity Eye Care prepared not only glasses for Harris, but also sports goggles to wear under his helmet. They sped up the process so McCoy could surprise Harris at One Buc Place with his new specs.

When McCoy walked out onto the back porch, Harris recognized him immediately. And when Harris realized what McCoy had done for him, the tears flowed freely.

Harris put on his glasses for the first time and exclaimed, "I don't have to squint to see anymore."

“I was really excited because Gerald is one of the best Buccaneers and that’s my favorite team,” Harris said. “To see a superstar from the NFL coming to give me something I really needed, it means a lot.

“People don’t really see how it feels to not be able to see, so when you actually can see and somebody else knows what that’s like and can help you, it feels good.”

Click on the video to see the true power of giving.