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Even in this age of individualized and highly skilled touchdown celebrations, Cory Harkey’s was a little different Sunday against New Orleans.
Shortly after crossing the goal line on his second NFL score, the second-year tight end made like a pitcher only with a pigskin in his hands. Here’s the windup, and the pitch ...
“It was definitely a tribute to my Pop,” Harkey said. “I told him I would do that next time I scored. He was really pumped about it too. He was watching on TV. I talked to him after the game.”
“Pop” just happens to be Arizona Diamondbacks pitching coach Mike Harkey, who had a 10-year Major League career as a pitcher for five teams, including the Cubs.
Young Harkey was a pitcher himself at Chino Hills (Calif.) High School, but quit the sport after his sophomore season to concentrate on football and basketball.
“I don’t know how fast I threw,” he said. “I had a little bit of heat though.”
Harkey said his father wasn’t upset when he dropped baseball.
“No, not at all,” Harkey said. “He was behind me 100 percent like he is with everything in my life. He’s been real great about it.”
Besides, things have turned out pretty well for Harkey on the football front. After four seasons playing tight end for UCLA, Harkey was signed by the Rams after the 2012 draft as a rookie free agent. He spent the first half of his rookie season on the Rams’ practice squad before getting promoted to the active roster and seeing spot duty in five games the rest of the year.
This season he’s become an unsung hero on offense as Zac Stacy’s lead blocker at fullback. He still plays tight end at times, but roughly two-thirds of his time on offense has come at fullback.
Coach Jeff Fisher liked Harkey’s blocking ability from the start when he came in as a rookie in 2012. And even though Harkey played only a couple of downs in the backfield at UCLA, the Rams thought he might have potential at fullback.
“Yeah, we saw it,” Fisher said. “We saw the athletic ability. He’s really done a nice job handling everything as a fullback, the true fullback position. But he also does everything very well on the line of scrimmage. He’s athletic, he’s smart, and he works. It’s important to him. Rob’s done a really good job with him.”
That last reference was to tight ends coach Rob Boras.
Even with those attributes, fate has helped make Harkey an integral part of the Rams’ offense.
Example No. 1: Midway through the 2012 season, Fisher released defensive tackle Kellen Heard, who was caught partying along with teammates Chris Givens and Janoris Jenkins before a road game in San Francisco.
Who knows when — or if — Harkey gets promoted to the active roster if not for Heard’s indiscretion.
Example No. 2: Tight end Lance Kendricks missed all of the spring practice period and training camp following offseason knee surgery. As a result Harkey got tons of practice reps with the starters both at tight end and fullback.
A slight fracture in the knee area sidelined Harkey for a couple of weeks in late August and early September. He missed the opener, and then participated in only 11 plays total on offense during the next three games.
Everything changed in Game 5 when the Rams switched to a run-first offense featuring two and three tight ends and with Stacy as the feature back. Since then, Harkey has averaged nearly 30 plays per game.
“He’s one of our favorite players,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “He just does everything right — true pro. You watch Cory Harkey play and he plays with more passion probably than anybody out there. It’s just fun to watch him.”
Harkey admits, none of this might have happened had he not gotten the chance to work with the starters during Kendricks’ absence.
“Of course, we all wanted Lance to get healthy, and we knew when he came back that he was gonna be our guy,” Harkey said. “But those reps did help me out a lot.”
There was nothing accidental, however, about Harkey’s improvement as a pass-catcher this season. Knowing he had to sharpen his receiving skills and work on his speed and explosiveness off the line of scrimmage, Harkey spent a lot of time on those areas this past offseason.
Prior to the start of organized team activities (OTAs) last spring, Harkey worked on those skills back home in Chino Hills.
“I was just trying to catch as many balls as I could,” he said. “Working on my route-running. Doing some one-on-ones with some guys back home. And working on my explosiveness. All the little things really.”
The summer work helped boost his confidence. “Knowing that I have good hands; I could catch the ball,” Harkey said. “I think that was a big thing for me.”
In four seasons at UCLA, Harkey had only 28 receptions — and just one as a senior. His 10 catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns this season don’t make him the next Tony Gonzalez. Then again, he looked like Hall of Famer John Mackey knocking three would-be tacklers aside on his 31-yard TD reception against the Saints.
Wide receiver Chris Givens provided an assist with a block at the 5 on the third defender — Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis. The rest was all Harkey.
“The thing about Cory that gets overlooked sometimes is how strong he is,” quarterback Kellen Clemens said. “There were a couple of guys, in looking at the replay, who had the chance to try to get him out of bounds. ... He works his tail off in the weight room.”
Guard/tackle Rodger Saffold, arguably the strongest Ram, can attest to that.
“He’s the only person that, you know, can kind of mess around with me in the weight room,” Saffold said with a laugh.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...a-89b7-5581703092e3.html#.UrHS1rVtryQ.twitter
Shortly after crossing the goal line on his second NFL score, the second-year tight end made like a pitcher only with a pigskin in his hands. Here’s the windup, and the pitch ...
“It was definitely a tribute to my Pop,” Harkey said. “I told him I would do that next time I scored. He was really pumped about it too. He was watching on TV. I talked to him after the game.”
“Pop” just happens to be Arizona Diamondbacks pitching coach Mike Harkey, who had a 10-year Major League career as a pitcher for five teams, including the Cubs.
Young Harkey was a pitcher himself at Chino Hills (Calif.) High School, but quit the sport after his sophomore season to concentrate on football and basketball.
“I don’t know how fast I threw,” he said. “I had a little bit of heat though.”
Harkey said his father wasn’t upset when he dropped baseball.
“No, not at all,” Harkey said. “He was behind me 100 percent like he is with everything in my life. He’s been real great about it.”
Besides, things have turned out pretty well for Harkey on the football front. After four seasons playing tight end for UCLA, Harkey was signed by the Rams after the 2012 draft as a rookie free agent. He spent the first half of his rookie season on the Rams’ practice squad before getting promoted to the active roster and seeing spot duty in five games the rest of the year.
This season he’s become an unsung hero on offense as Zac Stacy’s lead blocker at fullback. He still plays tight end at times, but roughly two-thirds of his time on offense has come at fullback.
Coach Jeff Fisher liked Harkey’s blocking ability from the start when he came in as a rookie in 2012. And even though Harkey played only a couple of downs in the backfield at UCLA, the Rams thought he might have potential at fullback.
“Yeah, we saw it,” Fisher said. “We saw the athletic ability. He’s really done a nice job handling everything as a fullback, the true fullback position. But he also does everything very well on the line of scrimmage. He’s athletic, he’s smart, and he works. It’s important to him. Rob’s done a really good job with him.”
That last reference was to tight ends coach Rob Boras.
Even with those attributes, fate has helped make Harkey an integral part of the Rams’ offense.
Example No. 1: Midway through the 2012 season, Fisher released defensive tackle Kellen Heard, who was caught partying along with teammates Chris Givens and Janoris Jenkins before a road game in San Francisco.
Who knows when — or if — Harkey gets promoted to the active roster if not for Heard’s indiscretion.
Example No. 2: Tight end Lance Kendricks missed all of the spring practice period and training camp following offseason knee surgery. As a result Harkey got tons of practice reps with the starters both at tight end and fullback.
A slight fracture in the knee area sidelined Harkey for a couple of weeks in late August and early September. He missed the opener, and then participated in only 11 plays total on offense during the next three games.
Everything changed in Game 5 when the Rams switched to a run-first offense featuring two and three tight ends and with Stacy as the feature back. Since then, Harkey has averaged nearly 30 plays per game.
“He’s one of our favorite players,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “He just does everything right — true pro. You watch Cory Harkey play and he plays with more passion probably than anybody out there. It’s just fun to watch him.”
Harkey admits, none of this might have happened had he not gotten the chance to work with the starters during Kendricks’ absence.
“Of course, we all wanted Lance to get healthy, and we knew when he came back that he was gonna be our guy,” Harkey said. “But those reps did help me out a lot.”
There was nothing accidental, however, about Harkey’s improvement as a pass-catcher this season. Knowing he had to sharpen his receiving skills and work on his speed and explosiveness off the line of scrimmage, Harkey spent a lot of time on those areas this past offseason.
Prior to the start of organized team activities (OTAs) last spring, Harkey worked on those skills back home in Chino Hills.
“I was just trying to catch as many balls as I could,” he said. “Working on my route-running. Doing some one-on-ones with some guys back home. And working on my explosiveness. All the little things really.”
The summer work helped boost his confidence. “Knowing that I have good hands; I could catch the ball,” Harkey said. “I think that was a big thing for me.”
In four seasons at UCLA, Harkey had only 28 receptions — and just one as a senior. His 10 catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns this season don’t make him the next Tony Gonzalez. Then again, he looked like Hall of Famer John Mackey knocking three would-be tacklers aside on his 31-yard TD reception against the Saints.
Wide receiver Chris Givens provided an assist with a block at the 5 on the third defender — Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis. The rest was all Harkey.
“The thing about Cory that gets overlooked sometimes is how strong he is,” quarterback Kellen Clemens said. “There were a couple of guys, in looking at the replay, who had the chance to try to get him out of bounds. ... He works his tail off in the weight room.”
Guard/tackle Rodger Saffold, arguably the strongest Ram, can attest to that.
“He’s the only person that, you know, can kind of mess around with me in the weight room,” Saffold said with a laugh.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...a-89b7-5581703092e3.html#.UrHS1rVtryQ.twitter
