NFL Analysis
10/28/24
6 min read
RJ Harvey 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For UCF Knights RB
Height: 5090 (unofficial)
Weight: 208 (unofficial)
Year: Fifth Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Bryce Love
Scouting Overview
UCF Knights running back RJ Harvey is a low-to-the-ground runner who offers a sudden short-area running style and some nifty contact balance as he prepares to make his leap to the NFL. Harvey has enjoyed a productive three-year stretch with the Knights to close his college career.
He has shown baseline-level running capabilities while creating a number of explosive plays in the passing game, too. He lacks the desired consistency on a snap-by-snap basis to be a preliminary volume player but should still warrant consideration as a depth player early in his career, a potential special team contributor, and a developmental rotation piece.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Hyperactive feet allow him to constantly cut and redirect his pathway with subtle adjustments to his track
- Low to the ground center of gravity and pads make him difficult to hit square and further compound his initial agility
- Pinball running style has afforded him effective yards after contact and has gotten better each season
Negatives
- Ball security has been a bit of a sore spot, has lost fumbles in each of the last three seasons, including three in 2023
- Eagerness to hit the boundary on runs that at times leaves dirty yards on the field
- Does not showcase a desirable ability to offer pass protection at this stage
Background
Harvey was born in Orlando, FL, and played his high school football for the Edgewater HS program. There, he was a stellar student-athlete and a dual-threat quarterback who earned a 3-star recruiting ranking (247 Sports) amid a productive high school career.
During Harvey’s senior season, he accounted for nearly 50 touchdowns through the air and ground combined. Harvey eventually committed to and enrolled at Virginia as a quarterback, redshirting his true freshman season in 2019 before entering the transfer portal.
Harvey found his way back to Florida, committing to UCF and transitioning to running back full-time. He played a marginal role during his first season with the program in 2020 and was in line for a prominent role in 2021 before a torn ACL in the summer ended his season before it began. Harvey returned in 2022 and has enjoyed three productive seasons since.
Tale of The Tape
Harvey is a fun player with enough intrigue to warrant developmental investment in the NFL. I do think some of the flaws and warts in his game can be attributed to a switch to running back full-time only after his true freshman season at the college level, but his natural playmaking ability is evident.
Harvey is compact as a runner and offers active feet, allowing him to jitter and pick his way around would-be tacklers in head-to-head situations. He has some steep angles in his lower half, allowing him to starkly change directions and cut back against the momentum of a flowing defender.
His best work comes in space and on the second level, as opposed to pressing the line of scrimmage. There, his natural running instincts can kick in, and you see the ability to set up tacklers and make them miss. He runs hard through contact in these opportunities and has the wiggle to force some missteps from defenders tracking his angle with the ball. Getting him into space is where things get a bit more complicated.
Harvey’s ability to get the edge in the run game has been hit or miss, and I don’t foresee him being a big-time fit for wide zone rushing schemes. He has the appropriate speed in the open field and is capable of opening his strides to force strain flowing over the top. But Harvey’s running habits do look to bounce runs inappropriately at times.
I don’t have a great deal of confidence in his ability to key and process his zone reads and flow appropriately to ride the wave out to the perimeter or, alternatively, make a singular decisive cut. Instead, he looks to pick and manipulate the point of attack too long at times, which will allow NFL defenders to break blocking angles and box him in.
He is capable of dropping the pads and running for hard yards, but the consistency of how often he actively takes these reps instead of trying to create a bigger crease needs to be more regular. And in those extended contact situations, you’ve seen ball security pop up.
Harvey has lost at least one fumble in each of the last three seasons, and several of them have come while “in the grasp” of defenders, with a second or third defender arriving at the football to punch it free. Harvey’s ball security will need to improve in the NFL, period.
The other limiting factor for Harvey is his passing-down skill set. He’s got good hands and can hit a number of big home runs as a receiver. UCF has charged him with running wheels out of the backfield, and he’s gotten up the sideline and loose for 20+ air-yard completions in 2024.
Still, the receiving chops are offset by an underwhelming profile as a pass protector. Harvey lacks the blows you’d desire to keep pocket integrity firm, and he lacks the hand timing or punch power to offset defenders. He’ll need to be much better in protection in the pros to earn the right to flash those receiving skills on passing downs.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Harvey does not necessarily illustrate enough consistency as a runner to draft high or put high on an NFL depth chart, but his late transition to full-time running back and his ability as a pass catcher do provide some intrigue as a developmental talent. His stature and cut ability project best to an inside-zone heavy scheme.
Grade: 69.00/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
Make sure to check out our new home for all of our NFL Draft content.
