Marvin Harrison Jr. is watching the Washington-Pittsburgh game on Monday Night Football, and there’s a familiar face racing across the screen during the Football Team’s upset win on Dec. 7.
A face and a voice that played a major role in Harrison’s decision to become a Buckeye nearly two years ago.
When Harrison made his first-ever visit to Columbus for the April 2019 spring game, he had what he called a “brief conversation” with Terry McLaurin as McLaurin was making a return visit to The Shoe just 13 days before he became Washington’s third-round draft pick.
The conversation didn’t last longer than a few minutes, but Harrison remembers it fondly as he watches McLaurin during the second-year receiver’s 87-catch, 1,118-yard season that left him just short of a Pro Bowl bid.
“I was still uncommitted at the time so he was just trying to pitch Ohio State and was talking about Coach Hartline and how great he was,” Harrison told Eleven Warriors in a recent interview. “It (helped). And then seeing him in the NFL and the success he’s had. I also got to talk to Mike Thomas. He’s one of my favorite receivers to watch, too. Him being an Ohio State alum and seeing what he’s done in the NFL (helped) as well.”
But in terms of former Buckeyes, it was McLaurin going to bat for Hartline that helped sway Harrison the most. Even during his days as a professional, McLaurin still credits his receivers coach during his senior season for developing him into a standout wideout.
“If there’s anyone who’s praised Coach Hartline the most during my time there, it was Terry,” Harrison said. “I could already tell he was a great coach, but talking to Terry briefly he loved Coach Hartline. They still keep in contact now. He definitely had a big impact, just during that brief conversation we had.
“He was telling me Coach Hartline was a great coach and talking about the route running and the contested catches he makes. Just watching him do that has been a little inspiring.”
Harrison calls the year McLaurin had in 2020 “a phenomenal season” as he helped Washington get to the NFC playoffs as the NFC East division champion. Throughout McLaurin’s sophomore season in the pros, Harrison kept his eyes peeled the most for No. 17’s route running.
Just like McLaurin, Harrison believes his best skill that he brings to the table comes in that area of his game. And with McLaurin being one of Hartline’s best success stories that he can point to in terms of guys he’s developed, Harrison believes Hartline will turn him into an even more precise receiver in Columbus.
“Before I committed to Ohio State, it was just the relationship I had with Coach Hartline,” Harrison says in reference to another major reason he chose the Buckeyes. “He would look at my film from camp, and we would talk about the routes and what I could do better. I just wasn’t doing that with any other coach. I could tell he really cared for me as a person and as a player. I really can’t explain Coach Hartline. Great coach, great father, great husband. He’s a family guy. It’s unbelievable what he does. I can’t wait to get coached by him.”
It’s “the details,” Harrison says, that make the biggest difference between Hartline and any other coach he spoke with before his commitment and all the way up to his signing in December.
“Coaching very athletic players, it’s the details that you really have to worry about,” Harrison said. “Coach Hartline, that’s what he does. It’s the details. When he was in the league, he was a great route runner. He was great at catching the ball. That’s why you see all the guys now are all great route runners. I think the details he teaches, you can’t really get that anywhere else.”
Can’t get anywhere else, huh?
Well that may not be entirely accurate. Harrison had a mega leg-up on just about every receiver in America in his own house with a Hall of Fame receiver for a father.
Marvin Harrison Sr., a three-team All-Pro who finished with more than 1,100 catches and more than 14,000 yards as a 13-year receiver for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, was able to take him to the backyard or a football field somewhere throughout his youth days and high school seasons.
“I don’t have any specific stories but he would just teach me the little things,” Harrison said. “Coming back to the ball, where to cut, being quarterback friendly. Little things like that he’s taught me from an early age.”
Having dad teach him helped him to improve over the course of several years, and it made him one of the country’s most polished high school route runners. It helped lead to the St. Joseph’s Prep (Pennsylvania) four-star prospect breaking the all-time Philadelphia Catholic League record with 37 touchdown catches and 2,625 receiving yards on 144 receptions.
Despite his own record-breaking career, talking about his dad’s success in the NFL and what he’s taught him is something the younger Harrison has been dealing with ad nauseam throughout his preps career. Better to be prepared for it and talk about it fondly rather than run from it. It’s going to keep happening no matter how he approaches it.
“It’s just something you get used to over time. You can’t avoid the questions. They’re not a big deal to me,” Harrison said. “It is (hard to put his success out of my mind). But I’m my own person, and it’s my own career. I try not to think about it too much, but it’s inevitable at the same time so you just try to focus on yourself as much as possible.”
Harrison is a top-100 player and a top-15 receiver in the 2021 recruiting class. He’s been compared to the Detroit Lions’ Kenny Golladay and is expected to eventually have a chance to make it to the NFL with his standout hands as a pass catcher, his length, smoothness and size.
But honestly? The most impressive part about him was the way he answered questions like a pro throughout a 15-minute interview. He got that from dad, too. Right?
“No, not really,” Harrison says with a laugh. “Just being around football, watching interviews over the course of the years. You just kind of learn.”
Being a self-proclaimed “laid-back kind of guy,” is another one of the character traits, in addition to the physical ones, that he is going to bring to Ohio State’s receivers room as an early enrollee.
He will be one of a program-record 15 early enrollees for the Buckeyes when he hits campus in about a week.
Harrison was as professional as ever when asked what he wants to accomplish as a true freshman in a receiver room that's loaded with young depth.
“I think that’s the thing about us is we all wanna be the best,” Harrison said, telling us he thrives off competition. “You need that in every room. Those are the kind of guys you want. Those are the guys you wanna ride with is guys who are that competitive.”
By coming to Ohio State to play for Hartline, Harrison believes he’s in the best spot he could be in, even if that means waiting a little longer to play than he might have to at other schools.
“I think Coach Hartline is the best coach for me,” Harrison said. “He’s gonna help me with those details. That’s the receiver I am, I just need to focus on the details and route running. I’m just trying to be the best person I can be. If that correlates to me playing as a freshman or not, I couldn’t care less about that. I’m just trying to win a national championship and become the best player I can be.”