Harry was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, before moving as a baby to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. His grandmother brought him to the Phoenix metro area, with the blessing of his mother, to allow for more opportunity. Harry tried several sports as a kid; soccer, football, and basketball, among others. His grandmother had hoped he would choose a less dangerous sport, but agreed to let him play football. He starred at Chandler High School after transferring from Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, earning five star recruiting honors from Rivals.com, and was noted by many recruiting services as one of the top wide receiver recruits in the country. In his junior season, Harry caught 13 touchdown passes on 30 catches for 657 yards.
College career
Harry chose to remain home and committed to ASU despite recruiting efforts by Texas A&M, Oregon, USC, among other top-tier programs. In the 2016 season opening game against Northern Arizona University, Harry became just the ninth true freshman in school history to start a season opener. In his freshman season, Harry posted 58 catches for 659 yards and five touchdowns. Additionally, Harry ran for 69 yards and scored twice and completed a 46-yard pass of his own. For his efforts in his rookie year, N'Keal was honored by Scout, Football Focus and Campus Insiders as a Freshman All-American. During his Sophomore campaign, N'Keal had 82 catches for 1142 yards and 8 touchdowns earning him First Team All-Conference honors. N'Keal's Junior season began with media accolades as he was selected to the 2018 AP Preseason All-American team. On Saturday October 27, he made one of the greatest catches in football history according to Colin Cowherd. His acrobatic one handed catch, along with a punt return touchdown, helped lead the Sun Devils to a win over the USC Trojans, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest receivers to don an Arizona State uniform. The following week N'Keal Harry scored three touchdowns in an upset over #15 Utah Utes. After the comeback win against the Arizona Wildcats on November 24, he announced that he would forego his senior year and enter the 2019 NFL Draft.
College statistics
Professional career
New England Patriots
Harry was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft with the 32nd overall pick. He was the second wide receiver to be selected that year. Harry was also the first wide receiver that Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick has drafted in the first round during his tenure with the Patriots, and the first wide receiver the Patriots have drafted in the first round since Terry Glenn in 1996. On May 14, 2019, Harry signed a 4-year deal with the Patriots worth $10.1 million featuring a $5.3 million signing bonus. On September 2, 2019, he was placed on injured reserve as a result of the ankle injury he sustained during training camp. On November 2, 2019, Harry was activated off injured reserve. On November 24, 2019, Harry caught his first career receiving touchdown off a 10-yard pass from Tom Brady in the 13–9 win over the Dallas Cowboys. During a Week 14 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, Harry caught a short pass and ran into the endzone, seemingly scoring a touchdown on the play. However, Jerome Boger’s referee crew ruled him out of bounds and the Patriots could not challenge the ruling. Harry left the game with a hip injury after this play. In Week 15, Harry caught two passes for 15 yards and a touchdown, and rushed two times for 22 yards in a 34-13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. As a rookie, he appeared in seven games in the regular season and totaled 12 receptions for 105 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.
