Seventeen-year-old Dan Sarginson will take a break from his A-level studies to make his Harlequins debut in Friday night's Carnegie Challenge Cup fourth-round tie against Gateshead.
The England academy stand-off, who turns 18 later this month, was given a Super League squad number at the start of the season but the club have allowed him to concentrate on his school work.
With full-back Luke Dorn injured and loan signings Karl Pryce and Lee Mitchell both Cup-tied, coach Rob Powell is forced to make changes and Sarginson is one of seven locally-produced players in his squad.
"Dan is likely to play," said Powell. "He's come through our system and is one of our brightest prospects. He probably hasn't been selected so far because he's still at school.
"But he's been able to train with us tomorrow and he's got the day off on Friday so that he can come up on the train with us.
"With him travelling down from Hemel Hempstead for training with us, he's used to doing his homework on the train and I'll be keeping an eye on him on the way up to Gateshead, making sure his mum's happy.
"He's in his second year doing A-levels and has his final exams in less than a month."
Sarginson, who joined Harlequins from his local amateur rugby league club Hemel Stags, has already represented England at Under-16s and Under-17s level.
"He's a stand-off but he can also play loose forward," added Powell. "He's played for England at loose forward and is tough defensively."
Three other youngers - Lamont Bryan, Ben Bolger and Olsi Krasniqi - have also been called up to join fellow Londoners Dave Williams, Jamie O'Callaghan and Tony Clubb in the Harlequins squad for the match against the Championship 1 club.
Meanwhile, Sheffield-born Powell will be back on familiar territory on Friday as he played his first game of rugby league in the north-east while studying at Newcastle University in 1998.
He was so taken with the game that, after gaining his degree, he went on to coach his old university team following a switch to Northumbria University for 18 months to do a masters degree in sport management.
"I enjoyed it," he said. "It's a good place and I had a good time. Rugby league was just kicking off then. There had been a lot of activity for quite a while but there was only one team.
"A guy called Rob Jones coached the university team and he is still a development officer in the north-east. He was the first person to encourage me to go into coaching and I'm still in touch with him."
