Walk-On Peters Clinches Victory Over Yale

By any statistical measure, the interception was insignificant.

Late in the fourth quarter of a home opener against Holy Cross, the Harvard football team held a 41-18 lead.Only two and a half minutes separated the hosts from a 1-0 record.

But when Crimson defensive back Scott Peters dove to pick off an errant throw from Crusaders quarterback Peter Pujals, the turnovermeant something that numbers could not convey.

For Peters, the pick was an affirmation. After not starting for his Georgia high school until senior year, not getting any recruiting offers, and not seeing any playing time his freshman year, Peters could finally celebrate in a college game with the ball in his hands.

“It was awesome,” Peters said. “[As] my teammates will tell you, I don’t have the best hands on the team…. I kind of surprised myself.”

However, it is misleading to describe Peters’ ascent from walk-on to starter as a fairy tale.

On the contrary, Peters stands out as someone who has succeeded at a variety of times and in a multitude of contests.

From all-state cellist to accomplished hurdler to defensive stalwart, Scott Peters frustrates the underdog label.

“He’s just one of those kids that’s driven in a positive way in everything he does,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “On the football field, he’s one of the toughest, most focused, and best football players we have.”

Most Crimson football players send game film before receiving an acceptance letter. For Peters, the opposite was true.

For his first three years at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Ga., Peters played behind a talented corps of defensive backs. His first start came as a senior in 2011, when the team named him co-captain. Despite leading Westminster with 74 tackles and earning regional honors, Peters did not compile a highlight tape until January.

“I applied to colleges without thinking of [sports] on the table,” Peters said. “I was able to choose this place without football.”

One factor that did influence Peters’ choice of college was the possibility of studying in a strong music department. Peters has played the cello since age three. When sports commitments limited rehearsal time, Peters branched into guitar.

Football did not prevent Peters from participating in musical ensembles. For seven consecutive years, Peters earned a spot in the Georgia All-State Orchestra, a selective group that culls the best student musicians from around the state. At Harvard, Peters is a music concentrator.

“A lot of people told me that I would have to eventually choose music or football, especially in college,” Peters said. “That never really happened.”

And Peters’ accomplishments at Westminster stretched beyond the gridiron and the concert hall.

During track season, Peters moonlighted as one of the top 300-meter hurdlers in the state. He finished in the top three of every senior year race, and at the Class AA state finals, he ran a personal best of 38.72 en route to second place.

However impressive, these past successes gave Peters no tangible advantage when he donned the Crimson football jersey.

“I was treated like one of the recruited players, which was awesome,” Peters said. “They felt like they needed me depth-wise.”

As a freshman, Peters logged time on the scout team; as a sophomore, he earned a special teams role and saw limited action as a defensive back. But this season is the first time that Peters has claimed a regular slot in the secondary.

“I think the biggest change in my game has been film study off the field,” Peters said. “Besides that, it’s just an overall progression.”

Peters’ new role has resulted in a  statistical explosion. After grabbing his first interception against Holy Cross, he recorded his first forced fumble a game later against Brown.

Peters ranked second among Harvard’s defensive backs this season with 47 tackles, including a monster game against Georgetown where he led the team with seven tackles.

This success mirrors the emergence of other third-year defensive backs in a relatively young secondary. In addition to Peters, juniors Asante Gibson, Sean Ahern, Chris Evans, and Jordan Becerra have experienced upticks in usage and production.

“We’ve been in the system long enough that we really feel comfortable with the schemes,” Peters said. “We’ve been in the weight room long enough…[that] we can compete.”

Even so, coaches and teammates maintain something separates Peters from the pack.

“He’s probably the smartest player I’ve ever played with,” Evans said “He can really control the secondary from back there. He knows what’s going on.”

Murphy confirms this assessment. Although the longtime coach does not remember a distinct first impression, he has come to appreciate several strengths of Peters’s game.

“He’s very athletic,” Murphy said. “He’s very physical. But beyond that, what allows him to be an exceptional defensive player is that he seems to see things in slow motion….For a kid like that, not to be recruited much by the Ivy League and then end up as a starter on a very good team—on an exceptional defensive team—that’s quite a story.”

Peters’s unique narrative found a unique conclusion this weekend in the 131st edition of The Game. After the Bulldogs got the ball back, trailing by seven in the last minute, Peters trotted out with Harvard’s defense for its final stand.

And with 10 seconds left, it was Peters who stepped in front of Yale quarterback Morgan Roberts’ pass to grab an interception, clinching the win and undefeated season.

As the stadium shook with cheers, and the Harvard bench streamed towards him, Peters lay in the middle of the field, hugging the ball. There he was, a former walk-on and current starter, clutching another Crimson victory to his chest.