The suspicious-looking reporter slid up behind a gaggle of media members after Vikings practice recently so he could elbow in and ask the hotshot rookie a question.

"Question back here for you, Percy," in-disguise Vikings RB Adrian Peterson asked of his new teammate, first-rounder Percy Harvin. "Who do you think is faster between you and Adrian Peterson?"

The brash rookie hardly hesitated.

"I would have to go with myself," Harvin said. "He probably has a lot of power over me, but I think I got the speed."

Peterson, the best back in the NFL, just laughed and walked off.

That's the first thing you notice about Harvin, who is set to take on a do-it-all role with his new team.

Kid. Can. Fly.

He's also clearly unabashed about talking up his own talent, even if it's in jest. Those are the obvious parts. The rest of the picture, well, that's a bit of a mystery to some.

Peterson got a straight answer on the speed question, but NFL teams clearly felt there were other issues they were not comfortable with when Harvin, maybe the most dynamic playmaker in the SEC and perhaps the country on Florida's national-championship team, slipped to the 22nd pick in the draft.

Vikings head coach Brad Childress, feeling that Harvin might slip to the team's pick in Round One, needed to get to know him firsthand on a personal level, and not just some dog-and-pony show. In the days leading up to the draft, Childress flew down to Jacksonville, where Harvin was staying, and wanted to see how and where he lived, even wanting to be in Harvin's car just to make sure he didn't smell marijuana.

Harvin's urine showed a level of delta 9-THC-carboxylic acid that was higher than the 15 nanograms per milliliter allowed by the league prior to the Combine, which dropped him on many teams' draft boards. For evaluators, "dropping dirty" — even for marijuana — is a red flag for immaturity because the players know well in advance they will be tested. It also was a first strike against Harvin before he ever played a down in the NFL, and if he tests positive on a subsequent drug test, he is entered into Stage Two of the NFL's intervention program and can be tested at any time without advance warning. After that, a third positive test could lead to a suspension, something commissioner Roger Goodell hasn't been shy about handing out since taking over.

There also were issues about Harvin's attitude. In high school, he was flagged for some unsportsmanlike penalties and served a one-game suspension as a junior, and in his final season he was suspended his final two games after initiating contact with an official and using inappropriate language. He came to Florida with a reputation as a hothead and a me-first player.

"I think if you were to read about me in high school, you'd think I was a monster," Harvin told PFW, not wanting to replay the details of what he thinks is an overblown story. "But a lot of those things, if you were not there, you wouldn't know what actually happened. When people try to say where I came from, it wasn't nearly as bad as they say.

"It was a little bit of immaturity, part of growing up, part of my competitiveness. A little bit of all three. But you're just trying to imitate a touchdown dance [that the NFL players do], but it turned into something different, something bigger."

His freshman year in Gainesville, Harvin was named SEC College Freshman of the Year after scoring five TDs and averaged 11.4 yards every time he touched the ball. He was a key factor in the national championship game, too, lining up at quarterback several times and totaling 82 yards and a TD in the blowout of Ohio State. He was so good at his all-purpose role that by his junior season, it would be known as "The Percy Position."

The Gators' coaches, nonetheless, were frustrated with Harvin's attitude after his first year in school. Some felt he was uncoachable and didn't listen to them, a source told PFW, and they held a closed-door meeting to decide whether Harvin would remain at the school. In the end, he was allowed to stay at Florida, and though there were a few other incidents along the way, including a few scraps with teammates, Harvin mostly remained in good graces.

"I had trust issues," he said. "It wasn't as big as people made it. Coming out of high school, I had a problem trusting people based on what I had gone through. A lot of the times it was just me not believing in the coaching staff and the players, so I had arguments and things. It really wasn't even arguments; it was really just talking. By the time more people [found out about them], it had turned into a shouting match. A lot of those things were people having their own perception of it."

For a franchise that has been cloaked in off-field controversy, from the infamous "Love Boat" incident to the Onterrio Smith "Whizzinator" fiasco, signing off on a player with Harvin's baggage required ownership approval from Zygi Wilf. Despite the concerns, Childress came away convinced Harvin was well worth the risk. So did WR coach George Stewart, who first met with Harvin at the Combine and quickly formed a bond with him through the draft process. Both coaches knew he was a special player. Harvin was more of a spread-offense running back and not yet a polished receiver — he had 61 more rushing attempts than receptions at Florida and had yet to show he could block effectively or get away from NFL press coverage — but the talent was undeniable.

"There are very few Randy Mosses coming into this league, very few Anquan Boldins, guys who dominate from the start," Stewart said. "I had Roddy White in Atlanta, and it took him three years for him to become a big-time wide receiver. With Percy, the biggest thing he has to confront is to learn how to come in and be an NFL wide receiver. He played some slot; he played some running back [at Florida]. He wasn't a true wideout; he wasn't a Michael Crabtree. He was a jack-of-all-trades."

After Florida head coach Urban Meyer and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong fully endorsed Harvin, the Vikings drafted him. And when Harvin and his family came up for the introductory press conference, Stewart felt for sure he was getting a good kid. He spent time talking with Harvin's mother, Linda, a track star in high school who was tough but fair on her son. After hearing the story about Linda picking up her injured son in the middle of a Pop Warner game and telling him, "if it ain't broken, you're playing," Stewart thought that maybe the 21-year-old Harvin might have gotten a bit of a bad rap coming into the NFL.

"The one thing I told him and his parents when we met before the draft is that if we draft him, he will grow as a man," said Stewart, who served as a mentor to Terrell Owens when T.O. first got to the NFL. "And when I met them all up here [in Minnesota after the draft], I knew he came from a good family. He's not one of those kids who grew up on the street. He's a three-car-garage kid. He had a lot more access to things growing up [than Owens]."

If the Vikings needed more firsthand testament to Harvin's ability, all they had to do was ask their fellow draft picks. In what might be an NFL first, Harvin beat all of them in college, dropping Oklahoma and second-rounder Phil Loadholt in the 2009 title game; beating third-rounder Asher Allen and Georgia twice; beating fifth-round LB Jasper Brinkley and South Carolina three times in three years; and taking down seventh-round SS Jamarca Sanford and Ole Miss in 2007, although Sanford has been quick to remind his new teammate that he and his Rebels pulled a major upset of the Gators for their only loss in 2008.

"Yeah, I have mentioned that to him a few times," Sanford said. "But you knew watching him in those games that he was something special."

Harvin did raise some negative attention leaguewide after the draft by falling ill prior to the Vikings' first rookie minicamp, an ailment that agent Joel Segal explained as a bout of severe fatigue mixed with a flu virus. Harvin again was sent home sick prior to the NFL's mandatory Rookie Symposium, and his absence means Harvin will be attending the symposium next year with the 2010 rookies. Said Harvin: "I can't even explain why I felt like that. I was just worn out. But I am fine now."

Once Harvin hit the field, there were no issues. In the team's minicamps this summer, Childress threw the kitchen sink at his rookie: lining him up at flanker, in the slot, in the backfield as a runner, under center at quarterback and — something Harvin hadn't done since high school — catching punts and kickoffs. After an impressive spring and summer in which he caught just about everything thrown his way, the expectations now are sky-high. Sanford was among the victimized when he was late to help in one of Harvin's first training-camp practices on an acrobatic 30-yard reception. Later, Harvin torched CB Marcus Walker for what would have been a 72-yard touchdown.

"You can't let him even get one step on you," Sanford said. "He'll fly right by."

In a dream scenario, Stewart would prefer that Harvin spend his first year learning how to be an NFL wide receiver, but he knows it would be wrong to shackle such an explosive talent.

"He has had success doing a lot of different things. He is up for that challenge in terms of being a multipurpose guy. It's kind of like having that lion that is used to running in the wild and then putting him in a cage — he's a little different. You want him to continue to run in the wild, and Percy has accepted that challenge."

Harvin said that he is handling his voluminous assignments as best he can.

"I am just trying to perfect all of my stuff right now, whether it's running a route or at quarterback or in the backfield," Harvin said. "I am just trying to get comfortable with all of them. Kick returning is no problem, but on punts, going back to OTAs, I was fighting the ball a little bit. But I feel a little bit more natural back there now. It's one of those things that repetition should help."

The Vikings likely will hold back on Harvin returning punts for now, but almost everything else is fair game as the regular season approaches. After sitting out the preseason opener against the Colts as a precaution with a mild shoulder injury, Harvin made his Vikings debut the same day as Brett Favre against the Chiefs.

Is Harvin there yet? Not quite. It is not insignificant that Favre's first completion as a Viking was to Harvin, who made a sprawling catch amid two defenders that was just shy of first-down yardage. And the next time he touched the ball in the game, he was one missed tackle away from possibly taking it the distance on a kick return.

The details will come in time, but the late addition of Favre might slow down the offense's momentum for the time being. On Favre's final play Friday night, Harvin did what the coaches had taught him to do when he saw a cover-0, or all-out blitz, but Favre expected him to do something else. Score one for the quick-study rookie.

Everything is lined up for Harvin to be a rookie star. He won't draw the opponent's best cornerback; most often, they'll be following Bernard Berrian. He won't be attracting the attention of the strong safety, who likely will be honing in on Peterson. Harvin will find himself often in single coverage against a slot nickel corner, and that alone has Stewart tickled pink. And he has a quarterback in Favre who has made a receiver or two look pretty good in his day. Plus, Favre and Peterson also will draw as much media attention away from the rookie as they will defenders.

All that stands between Harvin and stardom is that trust he lacked early in his career. He talks to his mother nightly, and she knows he is in good hands.

"We're extremely close," he said of Linda. "She knows when things aren't going right. She was worried about me at first, but not now. She knows I am trying to do my thing up here."

Wait until you see what all that entails.

Kickoff is coming! Be sure to buy copies of the Pro Football Weekly/Yahoo! Sports 2009 NFL preview magazine, as well as the Pro Football Weekly/Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football Guide 2009, both of which are now available at bookstores, newsstands and retail outlets where magazines are sold. Or order your copies online at PFWStore.com .