NFL player returns to NC State to finish his degree

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Kelvin Harmon caught 177 passes during his three seasons playing for N.C. State, but Harmon’s biggest reception came last week during a small virtual ceremony.

Harmon, who left school early after the 2018 football season, earned his degree in sports management and officially became an N.C. State graduate last week.

When Harmon declared for the NFL draft at the end of his junior season, he was 35 credits short of his degree. Wanting to strike “while the iron was hot,” Harmon stuck with school instead of putting it off.

He did take some time, just focusing on football his rookie year. Harmon was drafted in the sixth round (206th overall) by the Washington Football Team. He caught 30 passes for 365 yards his first year, and immediately got back to the books when the season was over, enrolling online in January 2020.

Harmon’s reasoning for getting back to school as soon as his rookie year ended was a simple one.

“It would be better for me to go ahead and get it taken care of,” Harmon said. “Instead of getting paid and being far removed and I feel like I didn’t necessarily need it.”

KELVIN HARMON FIRST IN HIS FAMILY TO GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE

According to spotrac.com, Harmon signed a 4-year, $2.6 million contract when he was drafted, with $127,840 guaranteed. But Harmon didn’t, as they say, take the money and run. His family stayed in his ear to stay on course to finish school, becoming the first person in his immediate family to graduate from a university.

During Harmon’s Wolfpack career, he caught 177 passes for 2,665 yards and 16 touchdowns. He’s third all-time in career receiving yards and fourth in catches. In 2018 Harmon caught 11 passes for 247 yards against Syracuse, second in school history for receiving yards in a game.

Last June Harmon tore his ACL while training and was forced to miss the entire season. While that took away football, it meant Harmon didn’t have to balance school work and his job of playing professional football at the same time.

“Honestly, everything worked out because this was a huge break for me this whole year,” Harmon said. “With quarantine and then getting hurt.”

Even without that balance, there were moments Harmon wanted to give up on school for good.

“Every time I saw an assignment due, for real,” Harmon said jokingly. “I figured once I passed that first semester in the spring, that was the chunk of it. I just had to do my internship and a couple of classes, so I was like I might as well finish up so I can fully focus on my career and not even think about school anymore.”

Asked to choose between graduation and draft night as his happiest moment, Harmon didn’t think twice about it.

“I would definitely say it was the graduation side,” Harmon said. “On draft day I was a little down because I wanted to go higher, so I was more relieved and not as happy as I should have been. For graduation, it was just a moment I worked my whole life for. All those long, crazy years in school from elementary school to here, so it’s been a lot of work and time I put into it, so this was definitely a different moment for me.”

PRO FOOTBALL AND A DEGREE

N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren talks to players about chasing two dreams and Harmon is a perfect example of that.

“I think it’s critical,” Doeren said. “Obviously, Kelvin, in a year when he’s rehabbing his knee, to be able to knock that out and have that behind him is huge. I know he feels good, obviously, with the accomplishment, but to have that weight off his shoulders, all he has to focus on now is his career.”

Doeren added that former defensive lineman Justin Jones, now with the Los Angeles Chargers, came back and completed his degree last year. He said Bradley Chubb (Denver Broncos) and Nyheim Hines (Indianapolis Colts) are also working on their degrees.

“We’re super proud of those guys,” Doeren said. “It means a lot and I know it means a lot to the university, to know that these guys care enough to come back and finish and be an alumni here.”

If he had a chance to speak with other athletes who are thinking about leaving college early but want to come back and graduate, Harmon would tell them to stick with it as soon as they leave and not put it off.

“Try to manage it and not stress yourself out too much, try to give yourself what you think you can manage, just try to bang it out, chip by chip, just chipping away,” Harmon said. “Once you’re like five years out, six years out, you’re not really going to want to go back. Especially if you’ve reached that second contract, that’s probably going to be the last thing you think about.”

Fresh off his undergrad degree and with his entire NFL career ahead of him, Harmon is already thinking about a master’s.

“I was thinking about grad school, honestly. I wanted to go in for the school of psychology,” Harmon said. “I’m just trying to see which grad school I can apply for. Once I already started, I might as well just finish up.”