If this article is accurate, Harrison Smith did a good job of sticking up for himself when Percy Harvin went after him. Two years ago during training camp, the Vikings' black defensive players were going full boar after Toby Gerhart, who seemed passive and intimidated. It didn't help that Brad "The Mangina" Childress didn't do anything to lessen the racial hazing. But Gerhart was much more comfortable running the ball in his second season last year.
Snippet: For the second consecutive day, Minnesota Vikings receiver
Percy Harvin had words with rookie safety
Harrison Smith, and things got heated enough on Wednesday that Harvin had to be restrained.
Harvin caught a pass on a short route from
Christian Ponder on the second play of a third-down drill and turned upfield, where he collided with Smith, the first-round draft pick from Notre Dame.
Players were in shells, not pads, but the collision was loud enough to draw a rise from the crowd. Harvin continued trying to run downfield. Smith didn't let up. Harvin recoiled and appeared to consider throwing the ball at Smith before going facemask to facemask with him instead.
Receiver
Jerome Simpson ran downfield and shoved Smith away. Then, about a dozen other players descended on the scene -- some of them jokingly pulling each other away from the pile -- and Harvin had to be held back as Smith continued chirping.
Harvin walked off the field with a Vikings media relations official and didn't comment. Smith said he was "not really sure" what happened on the play and downplayed the exchange as part of the game.
"It's the game of football," Smith said. "It's not a passive sport. It's an aggressive sport played by aggressive people, so that stuff happens."
This came one day after Harvin caught a touchdown pass against Smith and briefly stood over the rookie, prompting Smith to say something that brought an unfavorable response from Harvin and teammates came to the rescue.
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