On Friday, February 16, 2018, the Jacksonville Sharks have signed Wide Receiver Jeron Harvey. Harvey has previously played for the Jacksonville Sharks and showed that he was a threat to many teams in the Arena Football League (AFL), then signed with the Monterrey Steel for the playoff game agains the Jacksonville Sharks in 2017.
Jacksonville Sharks Sign Wide Receiver Jeron Harvey
Jeron Harvey makes his return in Jacksonville as a Shark for his eighth season in arena football, sixth with the Sharks.
In 2009, Harvey started his career with the Arkansas Twisters, known as the Texas Revolution today.
In 2010, Harvey decided that he wanted to play for his hometown of Jacksonville by signing with the Sharks in their inaugural season. That year, Harvey caught 27 passes for 364 yards and 13 touchdowns.
2011 was a special season for Harvey and the Sharks, since Harvey caught the game winning touchdown pass from Quarterback Aaron Garcia with two seconds on the clock. During that play, the ball wasn’t supposed to go to Harvey. He was supposed to be a decoy and the play is designed to get the ball to the motion man, which was Wide Receiver Jomo Wilson. On that play, Wilson was double covered and pinned to the back of the end zone, leaving Garcia nobody to throw to while being rushed. Throwing it up into the air, Harvey came down with it in the end zone to win the game by three points.
In the 2011 season, Harvey caught 90 passes for 1,077 yards and 31 touchdowns.
His third season with the Sharks in 2012 was historic, becoming only the second player in franchise history to have 100 or more receptions in a season. Harvey had 101 receptions for 970 yards and 25 touchdowns.
They say the third time’s the charm, but his fourth season definitely beats his third season. Harvey had a personal record-breaking season, catching 146 passes for 1,593 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Harvey had a more quiet season in 2014, recording 82 receptions for 966 yards and 22 touchdowns.
In 2015, Harvey’s last season with the Sharks until this upcoming season, Harvey caught 47 passes for 475 yards and four touchdowns.
Obviously, things were falling apart for Harvey with the Sharks, so he decided to take a year off and then sign with the Monterrey Steel for one game, which happened to be the playoff game against the Sharks. In that one game with the Steel, Harvey caught four passes for 59 yards and two touchdowns.
Harvey was practicing with the Sharks that week before the playoff game and was supposedly going to sign a contract the next day with the Sharks. When he didn’t show up to practice to sign the contract, the Sharks knew something was wrong. After finding out that Harvey signed with the Steel, the Sharks went ahead and signed Wide Receiver Joe Hills for the playoffs, fearing that the Steel would try to steal him from the Tampa Bay Storm of the AFL.
It is almost safe to say that Harvey already knows some of the playbook since he practiced with the team, there’s the same quarterback as when he previously played with the Sharks, and Head Coach Siaha Burley is still there.
What to expect from Harvey with the Sharks
With some smaller arena receivers, Harvey will be the one taking control of the receivers. With that said, you can expect him to have multiple catches in a game, a couple touchdowns a game, and many yards. In the end of the season, you should see around 90-110 catches and somewhere around 1,000 yards. When it comes to touchdowns, there are so many talented receivers that can get the ball in the end zone. Don’t expect too many touchdowns from Harvey, but he should at least average one a game, helping him get to around that 16-20 touchdown mark.
When it comes to other defenses in the league, there are simply not enough corners on a team that can cover all of the Sharks receivers at the same time. Not every team has four shut down corners that could stop the Sharks receivers. Expect about one or two receivers to explode for the Sharks. Harvey is a great candidate for that position.
