I remember giving the selection of Percy Harvin in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft a “C” grade due mostly to the character concerns following him out of Florida.
After three seasons of breath-taking plays, Harvin’s character concerns have never reared their ugly in any big way, and he has actually grown into a sort of leadership role on the offense.
Now, however, stories about Urban Meyer’s mismanagement of the Florida program are now uncovering new details of Harvin’s checkered past. According to the reports from Sporting News, Harvin “epitomized the climate” created by Meyer that entitled certain players and led to practices that placed stars like Harvin into a special category, allegedly allowing them to get away with things they should not have.
In 2008, Meyer told the press that Harvin and two other players missed four games due to injury. In reality, it appears that Harvin missed those games as a result of a failed drug test and the University required the four game suspension but Meyer made sure to cover for his players. Harvin also reportedly failed a drug test at the NFL Scouting Combine prior to the Vikings drafting him.
The report continues to recall a story where Harvin grew tired of doing stadium runs and decided to just stop. When told to keep moving he exclaimed, “This (bad word) end now.” The following day conditioning did not include stadium runs, and instead the players played basketball.
The most troubling story is the one that tells of Harvin assaulting wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales by throwing him to the ground and putting his hands around his neck. Meyers never let the truth about that incident become public, saying only that “something did happen,” and Gonzales himself claims that the incident was blown out of proportion.
Harvin, in November of 2010, reportedly got into a verbal altercation with Brad Childress that nearly turned physical but stopped just short.
Harvin has not yet commented on the article by Sporting News and with his surgery scheduled for Tuesday, it is unlikely he will grant media access any time real soon.
At the end of this latest season, Harvin won the Korey Stringer Good Guy Award for his professionalism in dealing with the media. Outside of the Childress incident and some mild pouting about the sudden release of teammate Randy Moss, Harvin seems to have his life under control and appears to be the exact type of player the Vikings were hoping to get when they selected him.
In fact, if it wasn’t for recent scandals following Urban Meyer around, Harvin’s character concerns would still be just a thing of the past.
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The past is the past! He's proven a good teammate, citizen, and maybe most importantly, a damn good player. This should blow over in a matter of days.
Ps - As bad as this is, I find it a bit funny that he decided he didnt want to do stadium runs and the next day they played basketball!!
Why is this being brought up now? It's all in the past, the coach that was involved said it was all blown out of proportion. As Brendan said, the guy has stayed out of the trouble and has been one of the Vikings best players since he was drafted. The guy clearly is very passionate about the game of football, you couldn't ask for anything more!
Adam,
Do a poll on what the guys think about Percy after reading this...
2010 with Childress, He had most of us agitated most of the time, Can only imagine how he is in person !
Tanard Jackson was cut by the Bucs for failing a physical. Given it was an unusual decision because he had surgery only 3 months ago on his shoulder, I would love to see the Vikes sign him! He has had a few troubles including being suspended for PED's but i'm sure they can do things into his contract to give them protection if he tested positive again. He's only 26 and was more than adequate safety and he has GOOD hands. It would take the pressure off the Vikes needing to draft a safety early and target WR! Make it happen Rick and for what has been a relatively quiet FA period could turn out to be somewhat decent!
Cheech is who we thought he was....and most likely still is.
Freds old pal Cheech Harvin didn't like stadium runs ? Sound like cheech had a, well... just listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIbp5C-5WXM
If Percy doesn't wanna run bleachers...who cares. As long as he plays like he has the past 3 years. We need more Cheech's and less Chongs. I'm sure if I had to spend two years of dealing with Chilly I would've had words with him.