Chandler Harnish

Chandler Harnish (born July 28, 1988) is an American football quarterback who is currently a member of the Indianapolis Colts. He was the final pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, selected 253rd overall by the Indianapolis Colts, becoming Mr. Irrelevant 2012. Harnish played college football for Northern Illinois University, where he was the Huskies' starting quarterback for four years.

Early life
A native of Bluffton, Indiana, Harnish attended Norwell High School in Ossian, Indiana. At Norwell, he passed for 4,760 yards and 48 touchdowns, and also ran for 2,343 yards and 35 touchdowns. He was also a safety where he tallied 129 tackles, seven fumble recoveries, five forced fumbles, and 13 pass deflections. He holds multiple Norwell High records, including career all-purpose yards (7,103). As a senior, he lead the Norwell Knights to a 14-1 record, the runner-up spot in the Indiana 3A state championship and was awarded the 2006 3A Phil N. Eskew Mental Attitude Award. He was named an all-state player and the Fort Wayne News Sentinel Athlete of the Year as a senior.

Harnish also competed in basketball and track at Norwell. He earned all-conference honors in basketball as a junior and as a senior. Also, along with his brothers, Chandler ran a sweet corn stand in Bluffton while in high school.

College career
On August 6, 2006, Harnish committed to Northern Illinois University, the only FBS school that made him a scholarship offer.

Despite not being heavily recruited out of high school, Harnish became the greatest quarterback in NIU history. He made his first start in the Huskies' first game of his freshman season. In that game, he nearly led the team to an upset over the Big Ten's Minnesota Golden Gophers. Harnish continued to be Huskies' starter for four straight years. He led the Huskies to a bowl game in all four years that he started, an achievement that surpassed the combined total of Division I bowl appearances by all other NIU quarterbacks before him.

In his first three years at NIU (2008-2010), he started 31 games and totaled 7,332 yards of total offense, including 5,728 passing yards and 1,604 rushing yards. He was selected as a first-team All-MAC player after the 2010 season, and also received the Vern Smith Leadership Award, as the best football player in the Mid-American Conference.

During the 2011 regular season, Harnish had 4,043 yards of total offense, including 1,351 rushing yards and 2,692 passing yards. Playing against Western Michigan on October 15, 2011, Harnish became only the 10th player in NCAA Division I FBS history with a 200-200 game, consisting of at least 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards. He rushed for a career-high 229 yards and passed for 203 yards in a 55-21 win over the Broncos.

Harnish's average of 7.9 yards per carry during the 2011 regular season ranked third among players in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision with at least 100 carries.

Harnish accumulated more than 11,000 yards of total offense in his four years at Northern Illinois. He averaged 336.92 yards of total offense per game in 2011, ranking 7th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. In November 2011, he was named one of 15 semifinalists for the Walter Camp Award as the best player in college football.

Indianapolis Colts
Harnish was selected in the 7th round (253 overall) by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft. As the last pick in the draft, he was given the mock title of Mr. Irrelevant. On October 16, Harnish was released by Indianapolis, after being inactive for five regular season games. He was resigned to the team's practice squad two days later and did not participate in any games during the 2012 NFL season.