RJ Harvey
{{Short description|American football player (born 2001)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college football player
| name = RJ Harvey
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| school = UCF Knights
| pastschools =
| currentnumber = 7
| position = Running back
| class = {{redshirt}} Senior
| major =
| bowlgames =
| highschool = Edgewater (Orlando, Florida)
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|2001|2|4}}
| birth_place = Orlando, Florida, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 8
| weight_lb = 205
| highlights =
- Third-team All-American (2024)
- First-team All-Big 12 (2024)
| espn = 4568490
}}
Robert "RJ" Harvey Jr. (born February 4, 2001){{Cite web |title=RJ Harvey, RB UCF {{!}} Dynasty Value, Rank & Outlook |url=https://dynastyleaguefootball.com/player/9994644/RJ_Harvey |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=Dynasty League Football |language=en-US}} is an American college football running back for the UCF Knights. He previously played for the Virginia Cavaliers.
Early life
Harvey was born in Orlando, Florida.{{Cite web |last=Brugler |first=Dane |title=The Beast: 2025 NFL Draft Guide |url=https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2025/04/09073220/2025-Beast-v02.pdf |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 9, 2025 |website=The Athletic |pages=43}} He began playing football at age five.{{Cite news|url=https://www.orangeobserver.com/news/2018/sep/21/rj-harvey-leads-the-eagles-forward-observer-preps/|newspaper=West Orange Times & Observer|title=RJ Harvey leads the Eagles forward|date=September 21, 2018|author=Herring, Troy}} He attended Edgewater High School in Orlando and played three varsity football seasons as a dual-threat quarterback. Although the team lost every game in his sophomore year, he helped them rebound with a 9–3 record and district championship the following season. As a senior, Harvey threw for 42 touchdowns and 1,815 passing yards and ran for 1,350 yards and 22 scores as the team reached the state playoffs with a 12–2 record.{{Cite news|url=https://www.yourcommunitypaper.com/articles/edgewater-high-school-football-team-reflects-on-winning-2018-season/|newspaper=The Community Paper|title=Edgewater High School football team reflects on winning 2018 season |date=January 2, 2019}} He also maintained a 4.3 grade-point average (GPA) off the field. Harvey was ranked a three-star recruit and the 39th-best dual-threat quarterback nationally, committing to play college football for the Virginia Cavaliers.{{Cite web|url=https://247sports.com/college/central-florida/Article/Former-UVA-QB-Orlando-native-RJ-Harvey-headed-to-UCF-150372515/|website=247Sports|title=Former UVA QB, Orlando native RJ Harvey headed to UCF|date=August 19, 2020|author=Beede, Jason}}
College career
As a true freshman at Virginia in 2019, Harvey was the third quarterback on the depth chart and redshirted, not seeing any playing time.{{Cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2020/08/19/former-edgewater-qb-rj-harvey-transfers-to-ucf-from-virginia/|newspaper=The Orlando Sentinel|title=Former Edgewater QB R.J. Harvey transfers to UCF from Virginia|date=August 19, 2020|author=Hayes, Chris}}{{Cite web|url=https://virginiasports.com/player/rj-harvey/|publisher=Virginia Cavaliers|title=RJ Harvey}} He then entered the NCAA transfer portal and transferred to the UCF Knights. In 2020 at UCF, after transferring to running back he appeared in five games and ran twice for three yards as a backup.{{Cite news|url=https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/09/28/college-football-rj-harvey-returns-torn-acl-adds-explosiveness-ucf-knights/8120954001/|newspaper=The Daytona Beach News-Journal|title='I've been through a lot': UCF's RJ Harvey returns from ACL tear, carves role in backfield|date=September 28, 2022|author=Boyle, Chris}} He had a chance to be a starter entering the 2021 season, but suffered a torn ACL in preseason camp and missed the entire year.
Harvey returned in 2022 and appeared in 13 games with three starts, being named second-team All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) by Pro Football Network (PFN) while running 118 times for 796 yards and five touchdowns, in addition to 22 receptions for 215 yards.{{Cite web|url=https://ucfknights.com/sports/football/roster/season/2023/player/rj-harvey|publisher=UCF Knights|title=RJ Harvey}} He entered the 2023 season as the team's top running back.{{Cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/11/13/ucf-knights-big-12-texas-tech-red-raiders-rj-harvey-college-football/|newspaper=The Orlando Sentinel|title=UCF tailback RJ Harvey takes his game to next level|author=Murschel, Matt|date=November 13, 2023}} Starting on October 7 against Kansas, he had five consecutive games with over 100 rushing yards, the longest streak at the school since 2007. Against 15th-ranked Oklahoma State, he ran for 206 yards and three touchdowns, helping UCF win 45–3 in an upset.{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2023/11/11/r-j-harvey-ucf-run-past-no-15-oklahoma-state-in-45-3-upset/71552717007/|newspaper=USA Today|title=R.J. Harvey, UCF run past No. 15 Oklahoma State in 45-3 upset|author=Rossman-Reich, Philip|agency=Associated Press}} He was named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award as best running back nationally and became the first UCF player to run for over 1,000 yards in a season since 2018. With 1,416 yards & 16 TDs, Harvey had the sixth-highest amount of running yards and rushing touchdowns in the nation.{{Cite web|url=https://ucfknights.com/news/2023/11/21/harvey-named-semifinalist-for-doak-walker-award|publisher=UCF Knights|title=Harvey Named Semifinalist for Doak Walker Award|date=November 21, 2023|author=Wilson, Justin}}
= Statistics =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | ||||||||||
| rowspan="2"| Season
! colspan="2"| Games ! colspan="4"| Rushing ! colspan="4"| Receiving | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | |
| colspan="12" style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Virginia Cavaliers|color=white}}" | Virginia Cavaliers | ||||||||||
| 2019
| colspan="11"| Redshirt File:Redshirt.svg | ||||||||||
| colspan="12" style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|UCF Knights|color=white}}" | UCF Knights | ||||||||||
| 2020
| 2 || 0 || 3 || 3 || 1.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0.0 || 0 | ||||||||||
| 2021
| colspan="11"|DNP (injury—ACL) | ||||||||||
| 2022
| 13 || 3 || 118 || 796 || 6.7 || 5 || 22 || 215 || 9.8 || 0 | ||||||||||
| 2023
| 13 || 10 || 226 || 1,416 || 6.3 || 16 || 19 || 238 || 12.5 || 1 | ||||||||||
| 2024
| 12 || 12 || 232 || 1,577 || 6.8 || 22 || 20 || 267 || 13.4 || 3 | ||||||||||
| [https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/rj-harvey-1.html Career] | 40 | 25 | 579 | 3,792 | 6.5 | 43 | 61 | 720 | 11.8 | 4 |
Professional career
{{NFL predraft
| height ft = 5
| height in = 8
| weight = 205
| dash = 4.40
| ten split = 1.57
| twenty split = 2.55
| shuttle = 4.34
| vertical = 38.0
| broad ft = 10
| broad in = 7
| bench = 16
| arm span = 29
| hand span = 9
| note = All values from NFL Combine{{Cite web |url=https://www.nfl.com/prospects/rj-harvey/32004841-5281-9909-a72d-cc3e41956f3a |title=RJ Harvey Draft and Combine Prospect Profile |website=NFL.com |access-date=March 1, 2025}}{{Cite web |url=https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1059563&DraftYear=2025 |title=RJ Harvey College Football Profile |website=DraftScout.com |access-date=March 1, 2025}}
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://virginiasports.com/player/rj-harvey/ Virginia Cavaliers bio]
- [https://ucfknights.com/sports/football/roster/season/2023/player/rj-harvey UCF Knights bio]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, RJ}}
Category:American football quarterbacks
Category:American football running backs
Category:Edgewater High School alumni
Category:Virginia Cavaliers football players