School: Ohio State

Position: WR

Year: Junior

The Good: The kid is pretty good, and by that I mean that Marvin Harrison Jr is laughably good. MHJ at 6’3, 210lbs is an easy route runner with quick and precise feet, and his hands might be even better. He’s a pure catcher of the football, and he’s so quick to adjust his hands to off-target throws. Beyond his natural gifts, which include race-winning speed against faster defenders, Marv’s game might be most special for his technical gifts at such a young age. He puts routinely absurd releases on tape, and into his route MHJ has really subtle movements in his bag and can force plenty of physical separation at route stems. Once the ball is in the air, Marv possesses acrobatic body control and very casually expands his catch radius beyond what normal wideouts can do. All the intangible stuff is there too; go figure as the son of a Hall of Famer. Marv Jr plays with a competitive fire, has enough well-rounded skill to line up anywhere, and forces defenses to keep eyes on him for every snap. I’m confident in projecting Marvin Harrison Jr as the rare type of wide receiver who can win games on his own…because we’ve already seen him do it.

The Bad: I will say, for all of the praise like this that Marvin Harrison Jr elicits – and deserves – there are some drawbacks to his game when it comes to what’s expected of a WR1 in the NFL. Marv’s tools are excellent, and possibly underrated at this point, but he’s a subpar YAC threat. Ohio State tried to work that more into his game in 2023, too; I just don’t think he’s going to ever be that guy. Aside from that, the only other thing I’d like to see MHJ do more often is assert his physical dominance more regularly and always play to his size. He has an annoying tendency to opt for acrobatic catches instead of getting overly physical and working back to the football.

The Bottom Line: Marvin Harrison Jr going to connect in the NFL; it’s maybe the surest thing in the NFL Draft for wide receivers with this type of dominant profile. It’s more a matter of whether MHJ becomes an All-Pro/future Hall of Famer type or merely a Pro Bowler. I watched this kid manage to up his game from 2022 to 2023 playing with Kyle McCord instead of CJ Stroud, and he still has areas of his game to improve – winning deep more regularly is one. So yeah, I’ll go with the All-Pro/future Hall of Famer outcome.

Grade: Top 5 Pick

Pro Comp: Julio Jones

Games Watched:

• Notre Dame 2022
• Michigan State 2022
• Penn State 2022
• Indiana 2022
• Michigan 2022
• Georgia 2022 (CFP Semi)
• Notre Dame 2023
• Maryland 2023
• Purdue 2023
• Penn State 2023
• Michigan 2023

Plays That Matter [LINK]