Harper attended Baldwin High School and was a letterman in football, wrestling, baseball, and track & field.

In football, as a senior, he won first-team All-Conference honors and was named the team MVP.

After being declared ineligible for his senior season at Fort Valley State in 2000, Harper signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League and appeared in 18 games for the team.

[1] In 2005, the Colts finished first in the AFC with a 14–2 record, the team faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the playoffs.

Indianapolis would end up missing the potential game-tying field goal, and Pittsburgh went on to win Super Bowl XL.