Tulsa World: Harvin's sheer force could shock Sooners

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Harvin's sheer force could shock Sooners

Florida's Percy Harvin scores a touchdown against LSU. Harvin has 1,730 rushing yards and 1,880 receiving yards in three years with the Gators. Phil Sandlin/Associated Press

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 1/7/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 1/7/2009 3:00 AM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Preparation means everything to Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables. Unfortunately, a Florida Gator renders practice pretty much hopeless leading up to the BCS national championship game.

And it's not quarterback Tim Tebow.

"There's nothing you can do the last three weeks in regards to simulating Percy Harvin," Venables said. "Nobody has a guy like that in the country."

Assuming he's able to manage the sprained ankle that kept him out of the SEC championship Dec. 6 — he estimates it is "90 percent" healthy — Harvin presents a long pass-catching, option pitch-taking, direct snap-receiving nightmare.

"Whenever he breaks the huddle," cornerback Dominique Franks said, "we've got to know where he is at all times."

Good luck. In three years, Harvin has rushed for 1,730 yards and received for 1,880. He has scored 31 touchdowns doing both, and has reached the end zone in an NCAA-record 14 consecutive games.

He is one of the sleekest players on his cheetah-fast team, having run, according to trainers, 20 yards in 1.79 seconds.

"Whether he was 100 percent or not, he still looked faster than everybody else," Tebow said of a recent Florida practice.

Harvin is also one of college football's money players. He was MVP of the 2006 SEC championship, then made a career-high nine catches in the national championship win over Ohio State a month later. Last year, he burned Michigan for 160 rushing yards in the Capital One Bowl.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier put it in Sooner-friendly terms last November, saying, "Percy Harvin, if he was at Texas Tech, he'd be doing everything (Michael) Crabtree's doing and more. He's a special player that can catch, get open, run with it."

Three days later, Harvin rushed for 167 yards in Florida's 56-6 lambasting of the Gamecocks, with 80 coming on one play. So Spurrier said, "If he was a tailback on somebody else's team, he'd be a 200 yards-a-game guy."

Harvin defers to Tebow on matters of fan adulation and media attention. Hardly anybody else, at Florida or anywhere else, can catch 13 passes for 186 yards one Saturday, then come back two weeks later and lead off a blowout with a 70-yard touchdown carry. This Harvin did against Ole Miss on Sept. 27 and LSU on Oct. 11.

"When Percy is out there, he brings a whole different dynamic to the game," Gators wide receiver Louis Murphy said. "Can't nobody on our team replace Percy."

The question for Thursday's purposes is, can anybody on the Sooners stop him?

"If he's lined up at wideout, you've got to respect that he can run it wide," Franks said. "But he can also return to the backfield and they can do some running plays with him. Or he can just line up in a quarterback formation and take the snap and do some running game from there.

"So he's a real special player to their offense."

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

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El Capitan, Tulsa (1/8/2009 9:37:18 AM)

im not buying 20 yards in 1.79 seconds, garbage

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