As RJ Harvey closed in on a career performance against No. 15 Oklahoma State Saturday evening, rain-soaked UCF fans showered the Bounce House with chants of “RJ Harvey! RJ Harvey!”
Harvey was a yard shy of 200 rushing yards and fans wanted the redshirt senior to return to the field despite the Knights holding a commanding 45-3 lead over the Cowboys late in the fourth quarter.
A few carries later, Harvey plowed up the middle of the field for 7 yards, giving him 204 yards and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
“I knew I had 199 and one possession, I had three straight runs of no gain,” Harvey said. “They [coaches] just put me out there for that one yard. I appreciate all the fans; they showed a lot of support.”
Harvey became the first UCF player to rush for 200 yards since the late Otis Anderson rushed for 205 yards against Temple on Oct. 26, 2019. Harvey became the first Knight to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Greg McCrae in 2018.
“He’s starting to establish himself as one of the better running backs in our league and probably in the country,” said coach Gus Malzahn.
3 things learned from UCF’s blowout of No. 15 Oklahoma State
It’s been a remarkable season for the former Edgewater High quarterback, who spent one season at the University of Virginia before transferring to UCF in 2020. Along the way, Harvey made the position switch to running back. He missed the entire 2021 season after suffering a season-ending knee injury in fall camp, returning in 2022.
Harvey has been one of the few constants in an up-and-down campaign for UCF.
The Knights (5-5, 2-5 Big 12) opened their first season in the Big 12 by winning their first three games and then lost five straight conference games before defeating Cincinnati and Oklahoma State in back-to-back weeks. They travel to Texas Tech (5-5, 4-3 Big 12) for Saturday’s game (5 p.m., FS2).
Through it all, the 5-foot-9, 205-pound Harvey has improved every week. He’s one of 16 players in the country with 1,000 rushing yards, with five of them from the Big 12.
“He has all the intangibles of a great runner,” said sophomore receiver Xavier Townsend. “We’ve seen it from spring ball and knew he would have a great season. Maybe not like this; he’s going crazy.”
Harvey started the season strong, but it wasn’t until the Kansas game on Oct.7 that things began to click. He rushed for 133 yards, averaging 8.3 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown in a 51-22 loss to the Jayhawks. That started a streak of five consecutive 100-yard performances, the longest for UCF since Kevin Smith rushed for eight straight 100-yard games in 2007.
Pictures: UCF Knights beat No. 15 Oklahoma State University 45-3.
“His vision is really good and one of his specialties is to see the hole, find it and hit it,” said offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw.
While he’s averaging 6.4 yards per carry this season, that number has grown to 7.32 yards per carry over the past five games. That’s prompted the coaching staff to put more on the tailback’s shoulders.
“He was averaging 16 touches going into the game and we need him to touch it at least 20 times,” said Hinshaw. “Coach Malzahn says 20 is the number: ‘Let’s get him over 20 every game,’ and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“He’s averaging 8 yards per carry, so we’ve got to continue to feed him the rock.”
Another of Harvey’s attributes is his ability to amass yards after first contact [YAC] by a defender.
According to Pro Football Focus, he ranks fifth among Big 12 running backs in YAC (610) behind Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II (755), Texas’ Jonathon Brooks (731), Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks (704) and TCU’s Emani Bailey (695) and fourth in missed tackles forced (51).
“I’m just going to keep trying to improve every week,” said Harvey.
UCF ranks third in the country in rushing offense (233 yards per game) and eighth in total offense (494). Hinshaw says it all works with what the Knights want to do on offense.
“We have to throw the ball down the field and that helps open up the running game and the running game opens up the throwing the ball downfield,” he said.
While his performance on the field has been exciting to watch, so has his development as a person.
“He’s starting to come out of his shell,” said Malzahn. “He’s one of those guys that when he speaks, everybody listens. They have a lot of respect for him and he’s a super young man with a super heart.”
Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.
