Athletes on both the high school and college levels stare in the face of uncertainty as COVID-19 continues to impact the country and leave those involved in sports with more questions than answers.
Yet, there’s always a been strong sense of clarity, even among any cloudiness that might approach, for recent Southern Alamance High School graduate Hunter Harrelson.
“There’s one thing that’s not uncertain for Hunter,” Patriots football coach Fritz Hessenthaler said. “Hunter knew he was going to make it, he just needed a chance.
“East Carolina gave him a chance. There’s a lot of people around Hunter that know he’s going to do extremely well and ECU’s going to be very, very fortunate that they chose him as one of their few recruited walk-ons that they can have.”
Harrelson moved in at East Carolina last week as a freshman walk-on for the Pirates football team and second-year coach Mike Houston.
“It’s really exciting for me,” said the two-time Times-News All-Region first-team selection. “I've always liked playing football and I've always wanted to play at the college level. So, it's kind of cool I'm getting the chance to actually do it now.”
Harrelson was one of the driving forces behind back-to-back nine-win seasons for Southern Alamance, where he played numerous positions on both sides of the ball and rarely came off the field.
“First off, a great talent,” Hessenthaler said. “But the best thing really is when work ethic and talent come together, you get Hunter Harrelson, and that’s what you call special.”
There’s a belief that shines through in the way the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Harrelson plays the game, routinely overpowering bigger defenders and delivering a blow before he receives one himself.
“It’s both me wanting to work hard and a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because most of my life I've been told that I couldn't do stuff or I wouldn't be able to make it this far because of my height and everything,” he said. “So a lot of it is me wanting to show everybody that they're wrong. … I always like a challenge. I like to prove people wrong. Especially when they say I can't do something.”
Harrelson enters a unique situation at East Carolina, a part of the team but currently unable to practice with the Pirates because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“The team is (practicing). I haven't been able to yet because the coronavirus, the numbers have been limited,” he said. “In the weight room, they can only have like 15 to 20 people working out there at one time. It's looking like I’m going to be able to start with the team in January, unless this virus ends soon, then I could start earlier.
“It really is sweet and sour because I was really looking forward to it, and now it’s just kind of being put on hold for me.”
In the meantime, Harrelson said he’s been working out at East Carolina’s student gym to stay in shape.
Harrelson said he also considered Western Carolina, where he was offered a spot as a walk-on. East Carolina jumped into the fold following his senior season.
“At first, Western Carolina had told me that I had a spot to walk on there,” Harrelson said. “And that was really the only school there for a few months that I knew I could go to, so it was looking like them. A few months later, ECU got in contact with me. From then on, I was pretty much dead set on going here.
“One evening I got a phone call from (ECU assistant coach Roy) Tesh up here. He told me they had a spot for me to walk on if I wanted it. I told him I'll take it.”
Tesh, an Orange County native, previously coached at James Madison under Houston, where he recruited former Eastern Alamance quarterback Hayden Mann to join the Dukes.
Harrelson joins former Southern Alamance teammate Jsi Hatfield, a sophomore receiver on the Pirates football team. He said the two have texted, but because of restrictions haven’t met up on campus yet.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Hunter Harrelson finds place with Pirates
