Oct. 29, 2002
by Jennifer Renaker * Host Communications
Chase Harp has been around football his entire life. He grew up standing byhis father’s side, watching and listening to every word his mentor wouldsay.
His father, Sam Harp, is arguably one of the best high school footballcoaches the state of Kentucky has ever produced. The younger Harp knowsfirst-hand how good of a coach his dad is – he played for him in highschool. Now that Chase is playing for UK, his father doesn’t really give himadvice on the game anymore.
“I always ask him how he thinks I did,” Harp said. “He’ll always give me hisopinion about what he saw on this play and that play, but he never reallychews me out anymore, he’s not my coach anymore. He’s more like my dad rightnow.”
The 6-4, 250-pounder said his father, who played collegiate baseball atMorehead State and football at Kentucky State, did not have to influence himto play football.
“He didn’t really have to. I grew up with it,” he said. “He was coachingfootball for high school and I always wanted to go with him to practice andto the gym and be around all of the older guys.”
Like most college athletes, Harp would like to pursue his football careerafter college, but if that doesn’t happen, he would like to follow in hisfather’s footsteps.
“Yeah, it’d be nice to play after college,” Harp said. “Everyone that playsin this league has some kind of aspirations about playing football at thenext level. If they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t be here. Whateverhappens, happens. I’ve always looked up to my dad and what he does and I’dlike to be a football coach, too, one day.”
Athleticism seems to run in Harp’s blood. His uncle, David Silva, playedbasketball at San Diego State and for the San Antonio Spurs.
After coming to UK, Harp was forced to make the transition from quarterbackto tight end. But Harp claims that change hasn’t made that big of adifference for him.
“I’ve never put my hand on the ground as far as a lineman or anything likethat, I’ve never played the backfield,” Harp said. “I’ve always playedquarterback. But since I was quarterback, what made it easy was that Ialready kind of knew what was expected of a tight end – there wasn’t muchlearning involved except for the physical parts of the game.”
The physical difference has had a huge impact on Harp’s college career asinjuries have plagued him throughout his tenure with the Wildcats.
In the Wildcats’ 16-12 loss against the South Carolina Gamecocks two weeksago, Harp went down after someone fell on his leg, spraining his ankle.
During his redshirt freshman year, his promising season was cut short by astress fracture that developed in his thigh bone.
The following season, Harp played in seven games, missing two because of asprained ankle and two more because of a broken leg.
He’s also had some knee surgeries in the off-season that did not keep himfrom playing in any games.
Last season he played in every game, starting against Louisville when UKopened in a two-tight end set. He caught 22 passes for 251 yards, had an11.4 yard average and two touchdowns in 2001.
His most productive game last season came at Georgia, where he caught fourpasses for a career-high 63 yards.
Despite the injuries, Harp wouldn’t dream of giving up the chance to playcollege football.
“Well, for one, you’re on scholarship and it pays for your education,” hesaid. “You need a degree, especially today, but it’s fun to me and it’s alot of hard work. The locker room thing more than anything is the best part.Just being around all of the guys. I’ve been here for five years with someof those teammates.”
And it is the relationships with his teammates that Harp credits for theWildcats’ turnaround this season. He feels the improved team chemistrydeveloped off the field has given Kentucky a boost on the field.
“We are definitely more together, you can tell, and that carries over to thefield,” he said.
And the reason for the great team chemistry can be found on the UK sidelines- head coach Guy Morriss.
“He preaches family all of the time,” Harp said of Morriss. “Really the onlypeople that matter are the people in our group – the coaching staff and theplayers – you can’t let any outside influences come in and overtake you.He’s really trying to instill discipline in this program.”
And Harp gives some of the praise for UK’s success to the support andpersistence of the Wildcat faithful.
“There’s always lots of die-hard UK fans, but there’s always thosefair-weathered fans, too,” he said. “There’s always those people that are ontheir high horse when we’re 4-0, but we lose a couple of games and I’m surethose same people are questioning things right now, but like I said before,the people who matter most are the coaching staff and the players who areplaying.”
Harp was a two-year starter at quarterback and free safety at perennial ClassAA power Danville High School. As a senior, he completed 79 of 147 passesfor 1,407 yards and had 14 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He alsorushed for 644 yards and 14 touchdowns and was named the team’s MostValuable Player following the season.
Harp was a part of the team that had a four-year record of 47-6, including astate championship and two regional championships.
His many high school accolades include being named honorable mentionAll-America by USA Today, first-team all-state by The Associated Press,National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame (Central and Eastern KentuckyChapter) Class AA Player of the Year, second-team all-state by theLouisville Courier-Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader “Class of theCommonwealth,” finalist for the Player of the Year Award given by theKentucky High School Coaches Association and named to the all-area andhonorable mention all-state teams.
With many accolades in his football career, Harp was also a six-yearletterman on the Danville High School baseball team as a pitcher andinfielder. He played in the Kentucky East-West All-Star Game and was namedAcademic All-State.
When the time came for Harp to decide on a college, choosing to play footballat Kentucky was easy. Although he had scholarship offers from other schools,when UK gave him the chance to come to Lexington, Harp was eager to acceptthe proposition, turing down offers from Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburghand Miami (Ohio).
“I had other offers but as soon as I got the offer from Kentucky, I prettymuch took it as soon as I got it,” he said. “I was playing quarterback andthat was the time that Tim Couch was playing for UK and football here was onits way up.”
But life isn’t all about football for Harp. The three-year letterman ismajoring in exercise science and spends some of his time away from the fieldgiving back to the community. He was a celebrity reader at the Read AcrossAmerica school campaign, visited patients at the Veterans’ Hospital duringhis freshman year and was a featured guest at a service event at theKentucky School for the Deaf this year.
