Nicario Harper wasn’t happy with the feedback he’d received.
After two seasons at Jacksonville State, Harper was ready to take the next step and enter the 2022 NFL draft.
The only problem? Scouts weren’t sold on him.
He was told they wanted to see him in coverage more and to work on his hips. Harper, who had a stint at Southern Miss before Jacksonville State, was open to what he’d been told even if he wasn’t thrilled to hear it.
“They just really see me as a physical player, as a downhill thumper,” the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year said, “and I want to be able to show my versatility more.”
Instead of staying at Jacksonville State, he moved back up to the FBS level and transferred to Louisville, where he’s been given the chance to show off his versatility. During fall camp, the Cardinals replaced Harper at multiple spots, including the CARD linebacker, free safety and nickelback positions.
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Harper is one of six transfers, out of 13 total that joined the roster during the offseason, that coach Scott Satterfield’s staff brought in to reinforce a secondary that gave up the fourth-most passing yards in the ACC (3,193 yards) and 20 touchdowns ( 10th).
The bulk of Harper’s experience as a Gamecock was at safety where he tallied 54 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in addition to being a Buck Buchanon Award finalist, given to the top safety in FCS, in his final season. That’s not all he has to offer, though, and the Georgia native welcomes the opportunity to show more of his abilities this season.
“A lot of people just think I’m just a physical guy, but I want to show that I can also cover,” he said. “I can move around. I can blitz. I can play up top. I can play in a box. I can do everything. That’s the kind of player I feel like I am, so I want to. I’m glad I got the opportunity to show that this season.”
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Harper is part of a secondary he feels could be one of the best in the nation because of its depth while also expanding his game working with Ben Perry and Marvin Dallas at linebacker. Given his importance to the team’s defense, Harper believes CARD is a good fit for him.
“The CARD position on the defense is pretty much, you’re physical, you cover the line of scrimmage a lot,” he said. “You might not make all the splash plays. Your team’s got to be able to trust you at that position because you’re getting everybody lined up, and you’re leveraging everything and you have a responsibility on every play. That CARD position is a very important piece to this puzzle that we have right now at Louisville.”
Cardinals cornerback Jarvis Brownlee had heard of Harper when he was at Florida State and the latter was a Gamecock, but they did not know each other personally. Once they got to Louisville this year, they started to form a relationship during car rides to practices.
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Brownlee speaks highly of Harper’s work ethic, although sometimes he has to remind his teammates to take a break and not do too much. Still, there’s no denying Harper’s desire to diversify his game and improve his draft stock.
“One thing about him, you’re always going to see him around the ball,” Brownlee said. “Not (only) if he’s making a tackle, you’re going to see 21 around the ball and that’s just how he plays. … It’s hard to take a kid like that off the field. I feel like if we have 10 more guys that have that same mentality, no one can compete with us on that type of level.”