PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Usually you hear the NFL rookie stories about grit and grinding and perseverance, it’s not about the punter. This isn’t your average kicker.
First, it’s a drafted punter. Unique. Second, he’s 6’, 255 pounds. Unheard of. Third, he’s the first black winner of the Ray Guy Award going to the best punter in division one football. Trailblazer.
Steelers seventh round pick Pressley Harvin could be the team’s punter for the next 15 years. He averaged 48 yards a kick in 2020 at Georgia Tech, 47% of his kicks traveled over 50 yards, 40% were fair caught. He’s been good since he started kicking as a middle schooler in South Carolina.
Harvin began Pee-Wee football as an offensive lineman, had transitioned to center when the coaches asked for volunteers to punt.
“I took the initiative of trying to help the team out and see how it goes,” Harvin said. “I might not do it forever, but I will try it out. Here we are today many, many years later because of that one decision I made that one day in practice just trying not to be selfish.”
“It’s been a journey. I played tight end freshman year of high school a little bit. I took full responsibility for punting my sophomore year. That’s what I came to the decision that this is something I could be pretty good at.”
He was from the start, ranked as the second to fourth best punter in the nation depending on the publications. He averaged 42.5 yards a kick in high school with a long of 72. He also was on the track and field team, as a thrower. His team won three-straight regional championships.
I mentioned early that he’s 6’, 255 pounds. Not in a Sebastian Janikowski way, rather like a jacked football player.
“Yeah, man,” Harvey said. “I’m a bigger dude. People always ask me. ‘Do you play football? What do you play?’
“I always let people guess for themselves of what position. It’s always defensive line or fullback or halfback or something like that. When I tell people I’m a punter, they are astonished the fact that I said that.”
“When you look at me, I don’t look like it. I’ve put a lot of dedication getting myself to the position I am today. I kind of thrive on it. A lot of people are unique in their own ways and mine is my size.”
Steelers got a really good look at him, their special teams coach Danny Smith ran Harvin’s Pro Day at Georgia Tech. Smith was an assistant coach on the 1990 Yellow Jackets National Championship team.
“It meant a lot to me, especially a guy who already was at Georgia Tech, coached there,” Harvin said. “It meant a lot to me for him to be able to be there, I’m here because of it.”
Harvin said he wrote a note to himself on his phone at age 14 about his aspirations to play in the National Football League. He vowed he would never quit.
Now he has to beat out incumbent Jordan Berry to realize the dream.
“I bring something else to the table,” Harvin said. “Got a strong leg, being in my frame I feel real comfortable with it. I’m ready to ball.”