Robert "RJ" Harvey Jr. (born February 4, 2001)[1] 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.[2] He began playing football at age five.[3] He attended Edgewater High School in Orlando and played three varsity football seasons as a dual-threat quarterback.[3] 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.[3] 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.[4] He also maintained a 4.3 grade-point average (GPA) off the field.[4] Harvey was ranked a three-star recruit and the 39th-best dual-threat quarterback nationally, committing to play college football for the Virginia Cavaliers.[5]
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.[6][7] He then entered the NCAA transfer portal and transferred to the UCF Knights.[6] In 2020 at UCF, after transferring to running back he appeared in five games and ran twice for three yards as a backup.[8] 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.[8]
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.[9] He entered the 2023 season as the team's top running back.[10] Starting on October 7 against Kansas, he had five consecutive games with over 100 rushing yards, the longest streak at the school since 2007.[10] Against 15th-ranked Oklahoma State, he ran for 206 yards and three touchdowns, helping UCF win 45–3 in an upset.[11] 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.[12]
Statistics
| Season | Games | Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | ||
| Virginia Cavaliers | |||||||||||
| 2019 | Redshirt 
| ||||||||||
| UCF Knights | |||||||||||
| 2020 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 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 | |
| Career | 40 | 25 | 579 | 3,792 | 6.5 | 43 | 61 | 720 | 11.8 | 4 | |
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Vertical jump | Broad jump | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
205 lb (93 kg) |
29 in (0.74 m) |
9 in (0.23 m) |
4.40 s | 1.57 s | 4.34 s | 38.0 in (0.97 m) |
10 ft 7 in (3.23 m) | ||||
| All values from NFL Combine[13][14][15] | ||||||||||||
References
- ^ "RJ Harvey, RB UCF | Dynasty Value, Rank & Outlook". Dynasty League Football. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ "RJ Harvey". ESPN.
- ^ a b c Herring, Troy (September 21, 2018). "RJ Harvey leads the Eagles forward". West Orange Times & Observer.
- ^ a b "Edgewater High School football team reflects on winning 2018 season". The Community Paper. January 2, 2019.
- ^ Beede, Jason (August 19, 2020). "Former UVA QB, Orlando native RJ Harvey headed to UCF". 247Sports.
- ^ a b Hayes, Chris (August 19, 2020). "Former Edgewater QB R.J. Harvey transfers to UCF from Virginia". The Orlando Sentinel.
- ^ "RJ Harvey". Virginia Cavaliers.
- ^ a b Boyle, Chris (September 28, 2022). "'I've been through a lot': UCF's RJ Harvey returns from ACL tear, carves role in backfield". The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
- ^ "RJ Harvey". UCF Knights.
- ^ a b Murschel, Matt (November 13, 2023). "UCF tailback RJ Harvey takes his game to next level". The Orlando Sentinel.
- ^ Rossman-Reich, Philip. "R.J. Harvey, UCF run past No. 15 Oklahoma State in 45-3 upset". USA Today. Associated Press.
- ^ Wilson, Justin (November 21, 2023). "Harvey Named Semifinalist for Doak Walker Award". UCF Knights.
- ^ "RJ Harvey Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
- ^ "Full list of 2025 NFL combine results and 40-yard dash times, plus winners and losers for every position". CBSSports.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
- ^ "RJ Harvey College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved March 1, 2025.