Vikings rookie Harvin is an undeniable talent

Percy Harvin came home, stormed to his room and slammed the door. His football team had lost and he was furious. He refused to talk to anyone, even his mother.

He was 6 years old.

"I've always been competitive," he said. "That's got me where I'm at today."

Those closest to the Vikings' rookie first-round pick still marvel at his fierce competitive spirit, about how he never backs down from any challenge and craves the big stage. They still laugh about the times he'd walk into the coaches office before a big game and ask everyone to stand up. He wanted to see if any of them had wet their pants. 

"I just wanted to check to make sure nobody was scared," he would say. 

That's Percy, a winner first and foremost, they say.

He won a Pop Warner national championship as a 12-year-old and a high school football state title as a junior. He led his team to the state championship game in basketball and singlehandedly won a state track team title by claiming five gold medals. He won two national championships in college at Florida, including last season when he was the best player on the field in a game that featured two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks.

"I'm not afraid to fail," Harvin said. "When the big games come and the lights are on, a lot of people are afraid they'll drop the ball or fumble or whatever. If I drop a pass I'm going to make sure I catch the next six passes. I'm just not afraid to fail."

That determination is a byproduct of supreme athletic talent. The 5-11, 184-pound Harvin has a combination of skills that very few athletes possess. He is extremely fast, deceptively strong, explosive and elusive. NFL people are in the business of mining elite athletes so they have a discernible eye for the truly special.

"When the good Lord was making Percy, somebody got his attention because he got everything," Vikings wide receiver coach George Stewart said. "He got brains, toughness, physicalness, speed. He is one of those rare athletes that you're fortunate to get."

That didn't happen for the Vikings without extensive deliberation and background checks. Harvin's athletic high points were interspersed with reality-check moments, well-documented and hard to escape. The high school suspensions, the accusations, the reported failed drug test before the NFL draft are part of his story too, which he understands, but he said he has learned from them and hopes they won't define him.

The Vikings say they have seen nothing in Harvin's approach to give them pause. They describe him as a consummate teammate, a guy who's quiet but very respectful of players and coaches.

"With Percy, you just have to sit down and talk with him for a few minutes and you understand the guy has a great spirit about him, he has a great heart about him," Stewart said. "This young man is as quality a young man as you'll find. I mean that sincerely. He comes from a great family background. I haven't seen one instance of him being the guy I read about."

'Just a natural'

Harvin's talent was obvious early. He was so much faster than all the other kids in Pop Warner that parents from opposing teams often questioned his age.

"The kid was just a natural," said Kurt Goodman, Harvin's Pop Warner coach. "When he ran through the hole, it was like, 'Now you see me, now you don't.' Some kids have to build up to that. Percy had it from birth."

By the time he reached high school, Harvin had become a multi-sport star in an area famous for producing blue-chip athletes. The lineage of local legends in the Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads area includes Ronald Curry, Bruce Smith, Allen Iverson and DeAngelo Hall.

Harvin etched his name on that list with a string of performances as a junior at Landstown High that won't be forgotten anytime soon. He led the football team to a 14-0 record and its first state title with a performance for the ages. He finished the championship game with 476 all-purpose yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions on defense.

"He was a one-man wrecking crew," said Dwight Robinson, a Landstown football assistant coach and basketball head coach.

Harvin was just getting warmed up. He joined the basketball team and led that team to the state title game, which required a little overtime work on his part.

The state indoor track meet was held the same day as Landstown's basketball state quarterfinals. Harvin competed in three events at the track meet and then had his mother, Linda, drive him 45 miles to the basketball game, arriving just in time for the team's walkthrough. Harvin led Landstown to victory with a 25-point performance.

"A lot of people saw it as a big thing," Harvin said, "but when you're young, you have so much energy."

In the state championship game Harvin had the ball in his hands with one minute left and the score tied. He already had scored a game-high 27 points as he dribbled at the top of the key, guarded by a 6-8 defender. Harvin drove to the basket and went up for a one-handed dunk, but a defender got a piece of it and the ball bounced off the back of the rim. Landstown lost by three.

He experienced no such disappointment at the outdoor state track meet. Harvin won gold medals in the 100, 200, long jump, triple jump and 4x100 relay. He was responsible for 50 of the team's 52 points and became the first Virginia prep athlete since 1936 to win five events in one meet.

"He's done things that probably won't be done by a single individual for a long time," Robinson said.

Those who know Harvin best say his competitive zeal is what fuels that success.

"He's an extremist as far as a competitor," Florida coach Urban Meyer said after the draft. "He's the type of kid if you played checkers with him, he's going to try and beat you as hard as he can."

Said Landstown track coach Tom Anderson: "Honestly, Percy doesn't want to lose a fingernail. That would bother him. But I always say, 'What makes you tick, makes you tock.' "

Mistakes along the way

That competitiveness and his temper sometimes worked against Harvin. He reportedly drew a one-game suspension in football after receiving two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in one game as a junior, then served a two-game suspension for making contact with a game official and using inappropriate language the next year. He was barred from athletic competition by the Virginia High School League as a senior following an altercation during a basketball game.

Harvin said he wishes he could turn back the clock and do things differently. But his supporters insist Harvin also became the target of taunts and ugly actions by opponents because of his status as the nation's No. 1 football recruit.

"A lot of stuff that was reported was the end-result stuff, not any of the things that led up to what actually happened and how it transpired," Landstown's Robinson said. "As coaches, we know how things went down and we know what the consequences ended up being, fair or unfair. But those are the things that are going to make Percy a better person in the long run. He's had a lot of adversity that he's had to learn from."

Asked about the specifics, Harvin said opponents spit on him or purposely committed hard fouls in basketball, hoping to goad him into retaliation.

"There was a tremendous target," Harvin said. "Me being young, I didn't know how to handle it at the time. In football, people spit on me all the time and things like that. I just didn't know how to handle little things like that. But it helped me build up to where I am at now."

Harvin used the sports banishment as motivation and enlisted his aunt, Terri Burnham, to train him. A competitive body builder, Burnham took Harvin to a local park called Mount Trashmore at 5 a.m. several times a week to run steep hills.

"I remember a couple of days I couldn't go to school because I was throwing up and dizzy," Harvin said.

Burnham also worked with her nephew in the weight room to build his upper body strength. Once, Florida assistant coach Billy Gonzales met them at the gym during a recruiting visit. Burnham got swept up in the moment and put more weight on the bar than normal.

"I was looking at her like, 'I can do this but I have to go to school in the morning,' " Harvin said. "I went to school the next day, I couldn't even lift my arms, I could hardly write."

Harvin felt more relaxed and happy once he enrolled at Florida. No longer the big fish in the small pond, he found himself surrounded by other stars who could share the spotlight. That's something he welcomed because he has never felt comfortable with the media glare. Even now, he prefers to quietly slip into the background.

"I just never liked it," he said. "I just go out and play and kind of don't like to deal with all the other stuff."

Harvin was able to do that for the most part with the Gators because of Tim Tebow, the Heisman Trophy quarterback and college football poster child. That's not to say Harvin slid under the radar.

He became one of only two wide receivers in Division I-A since 1996 to collect more than 1,500 yards rushing and receiving, and the only one to reach those marks in only three seasons. He is also the only player in Florida history to have 100 yards both rushing and receiving in the same game.

He racked up 171 total yards against Oklahoma in the national championship game last season despite playing with a hairline fracture in his right ankle.

"He's been the best player every place he's been, but he's an unselfish football player," Stewart said. "He understands his greatness as a player. But the thing about him is he doesn't want that limelight. He wants to share it."

That won't be a problem with the Vikings. This is Adrian Peterson's team. Though Harvin's role is clearly an important one -- he accounted for 157 all-purpose yards and scored a touchdown in his NFL debut at Cleveland last week -- everything revolves around Peterson.

Harvin called it a "dream" to play with the Pro Bowl running back, and the Vikings envision endless possibilities with that dynamic tandem. For his part, Harvin said he simply wants to win and isn't concerned about how he's used. That doesn't surprise those who have followed his career every step of the way.

"At every facet of his life, Percy has always won," said Landstown's Anderson. "That's an immeasurable tool. He's had a major impact on a lot of people in this area, but I think the best is yet to come."