Overlooked and spurned as a recruit, this Delaware receiver shows he belongs

Chandler Harvin caught a decisive 51-yard touchdown pass and another clutch 74-yard scoring strike for the University of Delaware this football season.

His 23.7 yards per catch is a clear indication of Harvin’s big-play ability.

But in the spring of 2018 while in prep school, Harvin was a college football prospect without a team. His anticipated scholarship offer was suddenly and unexpectedly revoked.

“I went back to Jacksonville and just started working,” said the Florida native. “At that point, I didn’t know for sure if I was gonna play football again.”

Opportunity did come, Harvin seized it and now has become a valuable weapon for the unbeaten, No. 6-ranked Blue Hens.

He walked on at Sam Houston State in Texas and joined an offense led, ironically, by a coach who had sized him up as a high school recruit while working at a school that elected not to offer him a scholarship. Harvin demonstrated his pass-catching talents and earned a scholarship playing for one of the top teams at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level.

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“We were all wrong,” said Ryan Carty, who coordinated the offense in which Harvin thrived at Sam Houston and is now his head coach at Delaware.

“Obviously, all of us should have offered him.”

While on the New Hampshire staff through 2017, Carty was actually part of two recruiting efforts involving Harvin, though neither resulted in a scholarship offer. UNH recruited Harvin when he was a senior at Bartram Trail High in Jacksonville, Florida, and again during the prep year at Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania.

“We watched him a million times,” Carty recalled, “and we ended up not going on him.”

Harvin had several FCS scholarship offers in high school and committed to Lafayette. Art Link, now Delaware’s safeties and special teams coach, had been on the Lafayette staff that originally recruited Harvin. In fact, attending the prep school to shore up his academics came at Lafayette's urging.

“I had an official visit and everything was smooth,” Harvin said, “and then like two days before Signing Day, my prep school head coach called me and told me that they pulled my offer.”

Lafayette did have a head-coaching change between Harvin’s original senior-year commitment and prep year. Harvin then landed at Sam Houston after Link put him in touch with the coaching staff there. Harvin’s father, Oscar, had earlier been hired as an accounting professor at Sam Houston, though Chandler still had to pay to attend the university.

Harvin redshirted as a freshman in 2018, which was Carty’s first year as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, before becoming a key part of an explosive offense. In 31 games during the 2019, spring 2021 and fall 2021 seasons, Harvin caught 69 passes for 974 yards and seven touchdowns. Sam Houston was FCS national champ in the spring of 2021.

“Just being able to prove to other people, and they really believed in me,” he said of arriving as an unheralded walk-on and earning a scholarship. “It meant a lot to me.”

Last spring, Harvin graduated from Sam Houston with an accounting degree but football eligibility remaining and a desire to continue his education. The Bearkats’ transition up to Conference USA in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision level beginning this fall influenced his decision to go elsewhere.

“That’s all it was, trying to win another championship,” Harvin said, knowing that would no longer be possible at Sam Houston.

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He put his name in the transfer portal seeking, he said, “any school that was FCS trying to win a championship not named North Dakota State,” referring to the Bison already winning nine of the last 11 NCAA titles.

Delaware immediately became the only school he considered because of his familiarity with Carty, assistant coaches Carty brought with him from Sam Houston and the up-tempo spread offense imported from Texas. Harvin didn’t even know Carty had sized him up as a high school player until he rejoined him at Delaware.

“It does make it an easier transition,” said Harvin, “because you know who coach Carty is and a lot of tendencies and everything. It’s my fifth year with the coaching staff so, relationship-wise, they know what I can do.”

Harvin quickly emerged as a big-play threat for the Blue Hens (5-0 overall, 3-0 CAA) going into Saturday’s 3:30 p.m game at 16th-ranked William & Mary (4-1, 1-1).

He has 11 catches for 261 yards. His 51-yard touchdown reception from Nolan Henderson provided the winning points in Delaware’s 14-7 season-opening triumph at Navy. The 74-yard catch and run came in last Saturday’s 24-10 victory over Towson at Delaware Stadium.

“He’s a fast kid, he can go run all day and he’s got great ball skills,” Carty said. “We’re excited he’s on our team.”

Now pursuing a master’s degree in accounting at Delaware, Harvin will also play in 2023 since the spring 2021 season didn’t count against players’ eligibility.

“I’m happy for Chandler,” Carty said. “He was a guy who has always been a hard worker, tough kid, playmaker. He battled a couple injuries [in preseason] so I’m happy he’s gotten a chance to get back and feel really healthy right now.”

Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.