The daily challenge is still there. Josh Harvey said there are still times when he’s forgetful, when he doesn’t have total focus or give total effort.

“No one’s perfect,” he said.

The Miami University redshirt junior wishes he was perfect … he’s not. But the Josh Harvey of 2012 isn’t the Josh Harvey 0f 2011, the lineman that was out of shape and out of favor with the MU football coaching staff.

Today, he’ll be a starting offensive tackle when the RedHawks play at Akron. He likes being a significant factor on the field. He likes it enough to push himself in a positive direction. Finally.

“I’m definitely feeling confident about the way I’m playing now versus last year,” said Harvey, a 6-foot-5, 355-pound native of Columbia, Mo. “And I want to keep playing that way. So that’s motivation to keep my attitude and work ethic in check.”

How did he get here? The 2010 season seems like a long time ago. Harvey started every game that year under Mike Haywood/Lance Guidry. Miami won the Mid-American Conference championship and the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

It was a great time for Harvey. Maybe things came too easily. He admitted he was “definitely babied a little bit. There was a little less responsibility for my actions.”

When Don Treadwell and his staff took over and started preparing for the 2011 campaign, Harvey figured he had it made. He was the returning right tackle from a championship team. He didn’t have to work hard. Right?

Wrong, said the coaches. By the time the season began, Harvey had disappeared from starting consideration. His playing time in the first five games was zilch.

“There were many reasons, but basically I was overweight, out of shape,” Harvey said. “I had to get rid of that sense of entitlement. That’s something I should’ve just realized, just being older and the coaches expecting more out of me.”

He ended up playing in five of the RedHawks’ last seven games. Harvey called himself “a filler player.”

“I was playing fullback and tight end — I was in our big packages,” he said. “Actually, calling me a fullback would be an overstatement. I was just an extra offensive lineman. But I do have game film of me in the backfield pulling.

“I started getting more reps at left guard, rotating with Marcus (Matthews). They didn’t feel I could play a whole game. I just tried to make the best of a bad situation on my behalf. I put myself in that position. It was something that I had to take ownership of.”

The message from the coaches was simple: Shape up or find a warm spot on the bench.

“They really expected me to live up to my potential instead of being that fat, out-of-shape lineman,” Harvey said. “They kind of just told me, ‘Here, this is what we expect. We’re not changing that, so until you can meet that expectation, you won’t see any playing time.’ That firmness definitely was a wakeup call.”

He took that message to heart. His offseason workouts had more of a sense of urgency. He was more focused. He didn’t exactly shrink in terms of weight, “but it’s a little different shape now.”

Ed Stults wasn’t here last season, but what Miami’s offensive line coach sees this year is a player with unlimited potential.

“He’s a natural athlete,” Stults said. “He plays well with his hands, and the athleticism in his feet is very good. He can move his feet once he initiates contact with a defender, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do when you’ve got a great speed rusher coming off that edge.

“It’s just a matter of staying disciplined and staying focused on the task at hand. But when he does that, he can be as good a player as there is in this league.”

Harvey started the first three games at right tackle this season. Last week against Massachusetts, he switched with Zach Lewis and moved to left tackle. Stults said Lewis feels a little more comfortable on the right side, and Harvey said it’s fine with him.

The RedHawks rushed for a season-high 216 yards against UMass. It started up front.

“We were not perfect by any means, but we moved the line of scrimmage a little bit, and we didn’t have many missed assignments,” Stults said. “When you know who to block, you can go play fast. When you’re confident in your assignment, you can go play fast. We want our guys to play like their hair’s on fire. That’s what we try to do.

“The expectation here is to play fast and physical. Our goal is to win the dang conference championship, and the expectation is that the offensive line’s got to lead that group to do it.”

Miami’s O-line has gone through numerous changes this season between lineup switches and injuries, yet it still seems to be improving. The line has accounted for only three penalties in 2012.

Harvey said the starting group — which includes Brad Bednar at center, Matthews at left guard and Trevan Brown at right guard — has developed a bit of an edge.

“It’s being a little tougher and running through blocks,” Harvey said. “Once you get that confidence that you can move somebody and hold your own, it’s really kind of contagious and gets the ball rolling.

“Brad’s like the glue to the line. Having him at center where he’s calling out plays and calling out the points, it really helps us as a whole.”

Harvey said footwork is his best attribute as a player. It helps him make up for mistakes.

He’s a statistics major in the classroom, with an eye on becoming an actuary. “It’s all risk management and statistics probability, nerd stuff,” Harvey said. “It’s interesting. My major is a good conversation starter.”

On the field, he considers himself to be a work in progress. But the work is going well, and he doesn’t have a problem with the guy he sees in the mirror. So the journey continues.

“What do they say about being a lineman? It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it,” Harvey said. “I’m happy to be doing it.”