Will the Florida Gators be Better Without Percy Harvin?

Percy Harvin

came to

Florida

as one of the most hyped recruits to ever attend the school. For a program of Florida’s stature, that’s saying a lot, but it’s true. Harvin was a can’t miss recruit who had superstar written all over him. Fast forward three years, and Harvin leaves the Gators with two national championship rings and the title of most electrifying to ever wear the orange and blue.

But a question remains. Will the Gators be better without Percy Harvin? Opposing teams are glad they never have to face #1 (or #8) again. Florida haters think the Gators don’t have the firepower they did without Harvin. But Gator fans have differing opinions.

On one hand, every person that ever loved the Gators will miss Harvin. He catapulted himself up the list of many a fan’s favorite Florida athletes during his career, and his highlight clips will be watched for generations to come. On the other, Florida might be more dangerous when he’s not the primary focal point of the offense. Bare with me, but the numbers actually back this up.

First of all, Harvin’s contributions to Florida’s offense are unlikely to ever be matched. However, during dire situations, offensive play calling got very vanilla and Harvin – and Tim Tebow for that matter – was used too much. Can you really use a superstar too much? Yes, you can.

Over three seasons, Harvin played in 36 games – 30 wins and six losses. The true all-purpose back, Harvin ran the ball 194 times and caught it 133 times, totaling 327 touches. This averages out to 5.4 rushes and 3.7 receptions per game. Or just over 9 total touches. This doesn’t seem like a lot given Harvin’s talent, but it can be attributed to his various injuries, being pulled from games as Florida got big leads, and the Gators’ offensive style.

During wins, Harvin’s touches actually declined. In 30 wins, the star back averaged 8.3 touches and 95.3 yards per game. But during losses, he was fed the ball more. Quite a bit more. Harvin averaged 13.3 touches and 153.5 yards in the six losses he played in. In a standard offense, five more touches don’t seem like much at all. In Florida’s – which relies on a number of playmakers – it’s a lot.

The percentage of his touches during his career is even more telling. 83% of the games Harvin appeared in were won by the Gators. 17% lost. But only 76% of Harvin’s touches came in those wins while 24% came in losses.

Again, this could be attributed to him being pulled from blowouts and kept in during close games. But any Gator fan who watched the Capital One Bowl loss to

Michigan

and the 2008 defeat at the hands of

Ole Miss

was more than a little frustrated at the offensive play calling during those games. Harvin just happened to have his career highs for touches in those two contests. If the other team was ahead late, the Gators relied too much on their stars and got too far away from what had worked in the past – which was a steady stream of spreading the ball around.

Not to mention, Harvin was more effective in bursts. When he wasn’t overused and was able to stay fresh, he was harder to stop or even contain. In wins – when he got the ball less times – Harvin scored 88% of his career touchdowns.

Now let’s clarify, football is a team sport and using Harvin more isn’t 100% of the reason the Gators lost the games they did while he was on the team. But in those games, Harvin was overused, to the point a large part of the standard offensive game plan was discarded. Harvin was force-fed the ball in an attempt to allow him to singlehandedly bring the Gators back into games. Again, football is a team sport and no one player can do it alone. A great quarterback still needs receivers to make the catches. A star running back still needs the offensive line to make blocks. And Percy Harvin still needed the rest of the offense to carry some of the load so he can stay fresh.

No one can complain about two national titles in three years. And Harvin had a great deal to do with those championships. But it’s that 9-4 season in between that makes Gator fans shudder. Can more of a balanced attack bring even more success to Gainesville? We’ll see.