HARVEY IS SOURCE OF STABILITY FOR JAGUARS
MOBILE, Ala. – To say that football has provided University of South Alabama defensive back Tim Harvey with an interesting experience would probably be an understatement.
Whether it’s playing for eight coaches — that would be in nine years — since enrolling at Loyola Academy in Evanston, Ill., or having to come back from a severe knee injury to return for his final season of collegiate eligibility, it’s safe to say that Harvey has seen just about all that one can on the football field.
And to think that with a different decision here or there, Harvey might have led a far more standard athletic life.
“I was one of those kids playing with a ball in the house, with your mom telling you to stop bouncing them off the walls. I know I was getting yelled at,” he recalled.
Harvey has played baseball for as long as he can remember, and didn’t pick up football until the fourth grade, actually starting at quarterback and middle linebacker. But it was one of his first coaches, Mike Fowler, who began to shape his future. “I had the best grade school football coach, I still keep up with him. He’s actually going to come to a game this year,” he stated. “He sold me on football and told me that I had a future in the sport. He and my high school position coach got me to where I am today.”
He would earn first-team all-conference honors each of his last two seasons at Loyola, picking off seven passes as a senior — earning team most valuable player honors as well — one year after recording 98 total tackles. The Ramblers qualified for the state 7A playoffs in each of his four seasons, advancing to the second round three times during that span.
Still, baseball remained part of his life as well. Harvey was selected the team MVP on the diamond too as a senior after setting a school record with 47 base hits, and he helped the Ramblers claim a pair of regional titles. Not only that, he played for a high-level summer team at the White Sox Training Academy, where a handful of his teammates went on to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft and nearly all played collegiately.
Add in the fact that he played for four coaches in four years at Loyola, and he initially figured baseball was the path he would follow out of high school.
“I had had enough of that. I loved football, but the coaching shuffle had kind of pinned me down,” Harvey said. “I was actually going to play baseball out of high school, though I was looking for a school where I might be able to play both.”
Harvey still attended a football camp at Northwestern, where he talked to several Mid-American Conference schools. He ended up visiting Eastern Michigan, and went to a camp at Western Michigan as well. Harvey thought he had a scholarship offer from WMU, but it was pulled two days before national signing day. “That’s today’s college recruiting,” he surmised.
Harvey received a call from Dale Ploessl, an assistant coach at Drake, though, who had heard what happened and asked if he wanted to come play. “I said sure. He showed up in my home the next day,” recalled Harvey.
But Drake does not have a baseball team, so his dream of playing both sports at the collegiate level came to an end.
“The battle I had been fighting all along was that I wanted to play whichever sport I could at the highest level,” he said. “I had to talked to so many Division II and III schools, and wasn’t satisfied with what I was seeing. I didn’t want to sell myself short, I felt like I had a lot to offer in one area. I saw Drake had some cool teams on the schedule — they had played Northern Iowa a bunch of times, and Illinois State too — and it was Division I-AA.”
One might figure that by moving on from the high school to the collegiate level that Harvey may have found some stability in his football life. It turns out that wasn’t the case.
He sat out his first season in 2006 as a redshirt while the Bulldogs compiled a 9-2 record under the direction of Rob Ash, and as a result of his success over 16 seasons — during which time he won a school-record 125 contests — Ash was offered and accepted the head coaching job at Montana State.
Steve Loney served as the program’s interim coach the next fall, leading the team to a 6-5 finish, as Harvey recorded 27 total tackles and intercepted three passes in his first collegiate action. But at the end of the season, Loney moved on to take a position as the offensive line coach with the St. Louis Rams in the National Football League. “He was a great coach, one of my favorites of all time. That year with coach Loney was one of the best football experiences I’ve had until coming here,” stated Harvey. “He loved me, I couldn’t imagine trying to play again for another coach or trying to build my way back up.”
With the uncertainty of the Bulldogs’ coaching staff, Harvey asked for, and got, his release to transfer to another school. It turned out that the assistant Harvey was closest with — his position coach, Matt Jeter — was re-hired at the last second by new head coach Chris Creighton and remained at the school. “So I sat down with the new coach and told him I would like to come back,” he said.
And Harvey was even better on the field that fall, collecting 50 stops and six interceptions — which tied for the team lead — to be selected honorable mention all-Pioneer Football League. The Bulldogs finished with another winning record, going 6-5 overall, but he still wasn’t entirely satisfied with the experience.
Jeter told Harvey he was on his way out, and Harvey didn’t feel completely comfortable with the new staff.
“By the end of the season we really didn’t see eye to eye so I asked for my release again, although this time it was not gladly given,” Harvey observed. “I had a great relationship with the AD [Sandy Hatfield Clubb], she was trying to find some schools for me to go to. Coach Creighton told me that if I went through with the release I couldn’t come back; I said, ‘Fair enough.’
“That was December 17. I had known I was going to do it, but I didn’t actually pull the trigger to get released until it was so late that I left myself a two-week window to complete the application and admission process so that I could play in spring practice somewhere.
“It really came down to the fact that I needed a fresh start,” he added, acknowledging the corner he had backed himself into.
His first option was to follow Jeter, who was pursuing an opportunity to join the staff at Iowa State — “Initially I thought I would go with him wherever he went, but his path led a different way,” observed Harvey regarding the possibility of transferring to the Big XII school — however, he called a week later apologizing that he didn’t get that job.
At that point, Harvey’s options were limited.
But it turned out that Harvey would be following someone he knew from Drake’s program — teammate Richard Courtney. Courtney, who was a year behind Harvey in school, was also looking for another program to be a part of and had contacted USA assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Brian Turner. “Richard was my recruit at Drake, I hosted him on his recruiting trip, so I had known him and his family for a long time,” Harvey stated. “When the opportunity came up, we looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s go.’ So we just packed up and came down here.
“We were in Mobile within a week of making the decision to leave Drake; it was a wild ride. We flew down here on a Thursday night, the admissions office picked us up and Mrs. Courtney put us in a hotel. We saw the campus at night and met with [Jaguar head] coach [Joey] Jones in the morning, and he told us if we wanted to come that we could. I tried to sneak him some film, I promised him I could play and that I wasn’t some guy walking in off the street.”
“To be honest with you, I thought it was another one of ‘those’ meetings,” laughed Jones, referring to speaking with individuals who would never be able to play for the Jags. “We had so many kids calling who wanted to be a part of our program. But you never know; one thing I’ve always told our staff is to check everybody out and look at every piece of film that comes in here.
“We were inundated with phone calls, especially at that time, people wanted to be involved. I hadn’t seen them play before, but after meeting them I liked their character, the way they looked you in the eye.”
So the two, along with fellow former teammate Rob Powell-Deppe, an offensive lineman, ended up joining the Jaguar program just months before it was to take part in its first spring practice. And while USA’s coaches might not have known what to expect from the transfer, it didn’t take long for Harvey to show them he could play.
In the Jags’ first full scrimmage, he made a team-high seven tackles — including two behind the line of scrimmage — intercepted a pass and forced a fumble. By the end of spring practice, Harvey was presented both the Jaguar Leadership Award and the Outstanding Performance Award for defensive backs.
“We obviously didn’t know Tim, so his performance was shocking,” said USA assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bill Clark. “We found out that he’s just a player, a guy who really loves and understands the game. Tim may have been the best defensive player we had that spring”
“It turned out he was one of our best defensive players at that time,” Jones agreed.
For Harvey, whose interest in football had waned near the end of his high school career and again after playing for three coaches in three years at Drake, his performance in the Jags’ first spring practice helped rekindle his interest in football. “I had gotten into a comfortable role at Drake, so it was interesting starting over again. But it was something I was already familiar with having played for three coaches in three years, so it was refreshing for me; I found that I had a new love, a new passion for football.”
So Harvey transfers, fits right in and makes an impact on a start-up program, everyone goes home happy? Not in this case.
Because he transferred from another Division I school, Harvey was going to have to sit out the Jaguars’ first-ever season in the fall since he had not spent the required year in residence at USA. Minor bump in the road, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome. In fact, the coaching staff was pursuing filing a waiver with the NCAA so that he would be able to play that September when the Jags suited up for real.
Uncertain of where he stood, Harvey still knew that he would be allowed to practice when the team opened fall camp in 2009. In the third practice of the preseason, the first in shells, Harvey suffered a dislocated patella that made his eligibility issue a moot point.
“That was tough. I had been on such an emotional high, especially from the spring, and physically I felt like I was conditioning and in shape to perform my best,” he said. “People kept coming up telling me that it was a blessing in disguise, but that didn’t make it any better. It was still a knee injury. That’s what goes through your mind anytime you hear a crack on the field like that. It was terrifying.”
Since he wasn’t going to be playing in the fall, the South Alabama Sports Medicine staff knew it had time to work on Harvey’s rehabilitation program. The process, which focused on extensive strengthening of his quadricep muscle and regaining patella stability, extended through the Jaguars’ inaugural season and he was cleared to return to the field for spring workouts.
Harvey once again was able to take part in spring practice, though he believed that his performance wasn’t as impressive compared to what he did upon first arriving in Mobile. Still, entering this fall he was slated to play a significant role in the Jaguar secondary. Though doubt was raised about that when he was once again injured in preseason camp — this time, Harvey suffered a high ankle sprain in the team’s first full scrimmage. According to head athletic trainer Jinni Frisbey, it’s an injury that normally requires six weeks to recover from, but three weeks later Harvey was back on the field when the Jaguars opened the season against Pikeville (Ky.).
He recorded three total stops in his USA debut, and added three more two weeks later when the Jags defeated Nicholls State. Harvey will enter Saturday’s matchup against Missouri S&T with eight tackles in four games, including one for loss, an interception and another pass broken up.
The injuries, though, are still something that he thinks about.
“If you ask the coaches, they would probably tell you I didn’t play that well [in the spring]. But I was just trying to see if I could still play,” stated Harvey. “Even in the first game this year it was in the back of my head. It’s one of those building experiences, I guess; you build from it and take all the character lessons you can.
“I’m blessed every day to be healthy and be at practice. That’s one thing you do appreciate when you get injured like that, even as much of a drag that practice can be, when I walk off the field every day I know it’s one less that I have left.”
“We knew he could be a good player because he is very instinctive, which he showed us that first spring” Jones said. “I did worry about the knee injury because he really took a long time to get over it. I knew mentally he would be able to play, though, and he has come out and done a heck of a job for us.”
Although he may have been limited in what he can produce on the field, USA’s coaches are just as appreciative of what Harvey offers the program off the field.
“He’s a very selfless person who is all about the team first,” explained Jones. “He’s one of those guys — and there are a few of them on our team — who always has a great attitude; when things seem to be going bad he is always smiling, and that rubs off on the rest of our players.”
“With Tim, what you get is a coach on the field,” Clark stated. “He studies the game in the film room; it’s important to him, and it shows. And he’s watching other guys making sure they keep their mind in the game — he does all the things you need from a senior.”
Returning to the field and playing in his first collegiate game in two seasons has been a significant accomplishment for Harvey this fall. Another will come on Dec. 18, when he is expected to earn his degree.
What are his plans following that event?
“That’s a dangerous question,” he replied. “I’m having a blast this season, as a team we are having too much fun. So it’s tough to think about what will happen after it’s over. I don’t want to mention any specific that I can’t get out of.”
He said that his parents would like to see him return to the Chicagoland area, but this much is sure — if anyone is prepared for an uncertain journey, it’s Tim Harvey.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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