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UF's Harvin Not Trying To Stand Out

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By ANDY STAPLES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 8, 2007

Updated: 11/08/2007 01:38 am

GAINESVILLE - Most days, one of the five best players in college football walks off the University of Florida practice field past almost two dozen reporters and heads directly to the locker room. Percy Harvin isn't being rude. He's not boycotting anyone.

Stop the sophomore and ask him for an interview, and he will smile and offer thoughtful responses about the Gators' offense, his role as a receiver/tailback hybrid or his near-superhuman ability to blow past defenders. But while Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's weekly state-of-the-Tim address draws at least 20 people and strong safety Tony Joiner's post-practice Q-and-A's usually attract a pod of reporters, Harvin rarely draws a crowd.

Most players capable of gaining 200 yards from scrimmage in a given game might consider the lack of attention a slight. Not Harvin.

"That's me," he said Monday. "I like laying low."

After a high-school career spent under a harsh spotlight that illuminated - and magnified - every mistake he made, Harvin is content to fly under the radar for as long as he can.

Which won't be much longer.

In last Saturday's 49-22 win against Vanderbilt, Harvin rushed 11 times for 113 yards two touchdowns and caught nine passes for 110 yards, becoming the first player in Florida's 101-year history to surpass 100 yards in each category in the same game. Through nine games, he averages 11.7 yards every time he touches the football - 2.4 yards better than Southern California dual-threat tailback Reggie Bush averaged in his 2005 Heisman Trophy season.

If he continues to produce, the spotlight will find Harvin again soon. This time, he will be ready.

"He knows," Florida coach Urban Meyer said, "how to handle situations right now."

Two years ago last week, the The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot newspaper placed a poll on its Web site asking readers whether Harvin deserved to be suspended for the final two regular-season games of his senior season at Virginia Beach Landstown High. The poll was linked from a story about Harvin's suspension for bumping an official and swearing during a game that season. The story did not mention - though one a week earlier did - that players from both teams said the bump and the swear took place immediately after an opposing player spat on Harvin.

Of the 2,373 readers who responded, 1,843 said Harvin deserved the suspension.

A few months later, Harvin made headlines again when Virginia's high school athletic association banned him from competition following an on-court fight between Harvin and another player at a basketball game. While Harvin concedes he didn't handle those situations well, he believes his status as the nation's most sought-after football recruit made him a target. He also believes those events received so much attention that he was unfairly portrayed as a thug.

"I don't want to say a lot of it wasn't my fault. A lot of it was my fault," Harvin said. "At the same time, it was a lot of people just taking shots at me.

"I got fed up with it. I was too young to deal with it, and I didn't know how to deal with it."

Harvin's mother, Linda, helped her son cope with the fallout. Linda, who moved last year to Green Cove Springs to be near her son, tries to meet him once a week for dinner in Gainesville. She said she often gives him a piece of advice.

"Just continue to be yourself," she said. "People will see who you are."

Florida freshman cornerback Joe Haden remembers reading about Harvin's high school career on the Internet. Haden admits the picture painted wasn't pretty.

"I probably thought he was going to be a little stuck-up," Haden said. "But he's not like that at all."

Off the field, Haden said, Harvin is perpetually relaxed. On the field, he's a loyal teammate just as willing to block a player 50 pounds heavier than him as he is to run a fly route. And since he arrived at Florida in June 2006, Harvin has done nothing on or off the field to merit a negative story.

But don't forget, Haden said, that with the football in his hand, Harvin might be the fastest, most elusive player in the nation.

"He can get from standing still to his fastest speed," Haden said, "faster than anybody I've ever seen in my life."

Because of his ability to astound on any play, the spotlight's glare will wash over Harvin again - whether he wants it or not. Harvin knows that. That's why intends to enjoy laying low for as long as he can.

"I came to a school where I'm at the same level as everybody else," Harvin said. "I'm not the one that stands out. I can just be me."

Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.

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