Morehouse star from Barbados has shot at NFL

"He's definitely a bona fide NFL prospect," said Morehouse coach Rich Freeman, who said that almost every NFL team has sent a scout to the school this fall.

Should he make it, he will have traveled one of the more circuitous routes in pro football history. As it is, a chance meeting at a college fair in Barbados helped steer Harewood to Morehouse, which Saturday will play rival Clark Atlanta for homecoming.

"We're blessed to have him, glad to have him," said athletics director André Pattillo. "He's the prototype of the student-athlete that we wish we could get on a consistent basis."

Harewood was born and raised in Barbados, the Caribbean island nation with a population of about 280,000. It is 166 square miles, about one-third the size of Fulton County. He had a passion and a gift for sports of all kind, including soccer, track and field, cricket and his first love, volleyball. He played on junior national teams at various times in rugby, track and field and volleyball and received interest from British colleges for rugby, he said.

In late 2004, in his final year of high school, Harewood attended a college fair. At the same fair was Michael Grant, a track coach from Atlanta who had brought his own students to the event. Grant, notably, had also coached college football and the following year would wind up at Morehouse as an assistant coach.

It didn't take long for Grant to spot Harewood, who was 6 foot 7 and more than 300 pounds.

Said Grant, "I'm looking at him from a recruiting standpoint going, ‘Oh, my god.' "

While Grant made his entreaties for playing football, Harewood eventually chose to enroll at the University of West Indies to study engineering. But not long into his first term, Harewood said he had a change of heart.

Said Harewood, "I just decided to call [Grant] one day and that was it."

Harewood was accepted for the 2006 spring term and received an academic scholarship.

"When the opportunity arose for me to at least come over here and get a good education, even if I didn't get to play sports, it would have been better," said Harewood, whose only experience with football to that point had been watching it on television.

Harewood, though, has proven to be a quick learner, befitting his 3.0-plus  GPA in applied physics and engineering.

"I don't think it's been too hard to learn, to be honest with you," Harewood said. "Sometimes it got confusing, like dealing with different defenses, but it's never been too hard."

He was second-team All-SIAC as a sophomore and a first-team pick last fall. Staying in Atlanta over the summers to train while  spending countless hours watching film has helped, to say nothing of having the frame of a football player and the quick feet of a soccer player.

In his final season, Freeman said, "We're just letting him spread his wings and fly."