Percy Harvin Zone

According to Urban Meyer, Percy Harvin could be back for summer conditioning. That’s great news! It was originally thought that Harvin would go through the entire summer without any workouts or practices. Lindsay Jones of the Palm Beach Post writes:

Meyer was in Ohio to spend time with family last week, but said he has spoken frequently with star WR Percy Harvin, who is recovering from surgery on his right heel. That surgery, which required the doctor to drill two holes in Harvin’s heel and remove some bone, will force Harvin into a months-long rehab program. Meyer remains hopefully Harvin will be able to participate in summer conditioning and will be 100 percent healthy by the time training camp opens in August. “It’s going to be a lengthy deal,” Meyer said. “He’s going to have to be real disciplined about it. The biggest concern is infection at this point, and doing something he’s not supposed to do. But we’re very positive.”

We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more news comes out.

It’s official. Percy Harvin will undergo surgery on his heel this week.

“It’s not a career-threatening injury,” Florida head coach Urban Meyer said Friday. “It’s a very minor surgery, probably an eight-week recovery and then he’ll be full speed for offseason. They’re saying in June we should be able to get him cranked up, for sure July.”

Renowned foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson will perform the surgery, so it looks like Harvin’s in good hands. Harvin hopes that the decision to go through with this will put an end to years of heel pain.

Source: RF365

Things are not looking good for Percy Harvin. A report in the Florida Times Union is saying that Percy Harvin might require surgery to help fix his injured heel. Thankfully, Meyer isn’t predicting the surgery to affect Percy’s ability to get on the field for opening day. Here’s what the article had to say:

Florida wide receiver Percy Harvin’s right heel injury might require surgery, and while physicians are still trying to determine the proper treatment, Gators coach Urban Meyer said it doesn’t appear the ailment will affect the player’s status for the 2008 season. Meyer said Monday that physicians, including a foot specialist in North Carolina, who have treated Harvin should have a plan within the next several days.

“It’s unique,” Meyer said of Harvin’s heel problem. “Not many guys have ever had this. The MRI showed that it’s a significant injury, and they [the physicians] want to make sure they do it right.”

Meyer said he didn’t know the exact term for Harvin’s injury but that it’s a bone issue. It’s something that Harvin, who will be a junior in the fall, first noticed in high school, and it really began to bother him last summer, Meyer said.

This is such a bummer. We really had high hopes for Percy and it would suck if he faces setbacks or anything like that and the season hasn’t even started yet.

Bad news is coming out of the Swamp. Our favorite Gator, Percy Harvin, tweaked his heel and is done for the spring.

“It’s obviously not going to affect the fall,” coach Urban Meyer said. “It might affect the rest of the spring. They’re going to get a second opinion.”

Percy Harvin has definitely been frustrated by weird injuries over his career as a gator. He just can’t seem to get right. “He loses his mind sometimes when he gets hurt because he’s so competitive,” Meyer said. “He just wants to be right. He’s had this for over a year and a half. “

All we can do as fans is hope that Percy is OK and will be ready for the home opener. It’s funny how yesterday we were talking about how Percy was burning all the DBs in practice, and now he’s on the sideline.

This also means he won’t be participating in the 40-yard dash against a student during the Orange and Blue game.

We’ll keep you updated as the spring and summer goes on.

The following article was printed in the Alligator today. Urban Meyer is turning the Orange and Blue Spring game into a fun festival will all sorts of activities. He wants to get the attention of the National Media and really amp of future recruits. The fastest non-student athlete will race Percy Harvin for a scholarship. Pretty cool huh?

Think you can beat Percy Harvin, Deonte Thompson, Louis Murphy and Chris Rainey in the 40-yard dash?

UF coach Urban Meyer will give students a chance to prove it — with a full scholarship on the line.

Meyer announced the first-ever speed challenge on Wednesday. The event will take place during the Orange and Blue Game on April 12. ESPN GameDay will broadcast live from Gainesville and ESPN will televise the game live.

While full details have yet to be worked out, Meyer said that on Thursdays of spring practices, which begin March 19, strength coaches will be out on the practice fields and students will be invited to come out and train. The entrants will be whittled down to one lucky contestant who will face Harvin, Thompson, Murphy and Rainey in front of a packed Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

“I want to give back to our students somehow,” Meyer said. “That’s going to be a great afternoon. If I’m a recruit and I come out and watch the ESPN GameDay crew in the stadium, watch it on a beautiful afternoon in the spring in Florida, and then you get to see a 40-yard dash in front of 60,000 people, that’d be kind of neat. Maybe that can help us get a couple of fast guys in recruiting.”

The Gators have a new Running Backs Coach in Kenny Carter. He came from Vandy and is already familiar with Florida situation in the backfield. Last year, Florida’s two leading rushers were Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. I don’t think that will be the case in 2008, but Carter isn’t so quick to change a good thing. Check out what he recently said in a press conference:

“Our whole deal is to do what we need to do to win games. If we have one guy that rushes for 1,000 yards, outstanding. But if we have a collection of guys that rush for more than 1,000 yards, then we’re getting the production out of the position, which is more important.

“In the end, it all comes down to how many yards did you rush for. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who rushed for what. What matters is what we produce from that position and how many wins do you have at the end of the season.”

This leads me to believe that the Gators will still use Harvin as a running back in certain situations. What matters is that they produce from that position. The Gators will have a much better running back core in 2008 then they did last year. Percy won’t likely be counted on to run the ball 10 or 15 times a game anymore. He’ll probably be brought in as a change of pace type of guy. Maybe 5 carries a game just to keep the defense on their toes.

Yesterday was National Signing Day for high school athletes to sign their letters of intent to universities. Rivals ranked the Gators as having the number 3 recruiting class in the country. Not bad. Near the top of Florida’s list is a stand-out junior college player named Carl Moore.

Carl Moore, WR 6-3 220 Sierra (Calif.) Community College - could take a lot of heat off of Percy Harvin in the passing game. He’s much bigger then Harvin and could cause the attention of opposing defensive backs. I don’t know if he’ll be an instant starter, but he will definitely see a lot of time on the field. Should Moore draw double team’s, Harvin will feast on the CBs in single coverage.

Bringing in another stud wide receiver can only help Percy Harvin because teams won’t be able to solely focus on stopping him.

For more information about Gator Recruiting, head over to Gator Envy.

Percy Harvin didn’t make the trip to Columbia for yesterday’s game against the Gamecocks. That didn’t seem to matter though as the Gators steamrolled over South Carolina 51 to 31. Tim Tebow stole the show with 7 total touchdowns.

Harvin missed the game due to a sinus infection and severe headaches. Hopefully it’s just a bad bug going around and he’ll be ready to go next week against Florida Atlantic.

The announcers mentioned several times how important Harvin is to the Gator offense. They did a great job of given him some national attention even though he was not playing.

Percy Harvin missed practice yesterday with a sinus infection. Anyone who has suffered from one of those knows they are not fun! Sinus infections build up nasty pressure in your face and you’re constantly blowing your nose. If this lingers on through Saturday, HArvin could be slowed for the South Carolina game.

“Percy’s under the weather,” Meyer said. “He’ll be fine tomorrow. (He) started getting sick as a dog yesterday.”

I’ll keep everyone posted as news develops.