Joel Klatt makes case for Marvin Harrison Jr. as Heisman contender

The Heisman Trophy race is starting to heat up as the season gets closer to its conclusion, with multiple players establishing themselves as worthy candidates for college football’s most prestigious individual award.

One of those players is Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. who’s had an impressive season for the Buckeyes. So much so that analyst Joel Klatt recently rated him No. 2 in the Heisman Trophy race with two games remaining in the regular season.

“Marvin Harrison Jr. is the best player in college football, maybe not quarterback, but best player in college football,” Klatt said. “Now there’s been some out there that have said like, ‘Keon Coleman is better than Marvin Harrison.’ No he’s not, that just means that you don’t watch. That doesn’t mean Keon Coleman’s not incredible, because he is, but there hasn’t bee as well rounded of an explosive monster on the outside in a long time in college football.”

There’s no question that Harrison has established himself as one of, if not the, best wide receiver in college football, also tabbed as one of the best NFL prospects at the position in quite some time. With Klatt breaking down skill set and production lately that’s led to his rightful Heisman Trophy hype.

“Marvin Harrison’s body control, the smoothness with which he runs routes, his his catch radius is outstanding, his flexibility, his nuance to his route running ability, his ability to create space and even win when there isn’t space created, all of it is outstanding. His production is incredible, he’s the best player regardless of position in college football. He was close to it last year and he is again this year,” Klatt said. “Since he came back from that ankle injury against Notre Dame, so the last six games, he leads the country in receiving touchdowns with nine, they’ve leaned on him heavily with 67 targets over the last six games, that’s the most in college football, and he’s got seven 100-yard games this year, that’s tied for second most in the sport.”

“He’s been without [Emeka] Egbuka for three games, including Penn State when it was all on Marvin,” Klatt continued. “He had to go for 16 catches on like I don’t know a million targets, and he’s had a quarterback that hasn’t been that great, [Kyle] McCord has been up and down all year. So Marvin’s the best player in college football, he’s the best football player in the sport. He’s still in this and he still has a path.”

There’s no question Harrison has been going on a tear, most recently coming off of a three-touchdown performance versus Michigan State. But there’s definitely more to winning the Heisman Trophy, with ‘Heisman moments’ and storylines playing an impact on voters when December rolls around.

Harrison is the only non-quarterback to make Klatt’s list of top four Heisman contenders, as he broke down what Harrison will need to do along with other factors in order for him to be crowned the best player in college football this season.

“For Marvin, they’ve got to win out. That’s pretty clear, but he’s also got to play great in those games. With Harrison, in theory, Ohio State could win and win out and he not have kind of a hair on fire style game. He needs to produce and he’s gonna need to produce namely against Michigan. If they can go up to Ann Arbor and win that game and he’s the best player on the field, well then now all of a sudden you’re going to get the momentum,” Klatt said.

“But here’s the hard part, is that I don’t totally think it’s in his hands. Even if he does that, he still going to need Michael Penix to lose, alright? Now he might need Bo Nix to also lose, but he’s gonna need a little bit of help. So the path for him is remain undefeated, produce at a high level, in particular in the game on the road in Ann Arbor, and then he’s gonna need Penix to lose, and he’s probably gonna need Nix to stub is toe along the way.”

Harrison can’t throw the ball to himself or control how the other contenders and teams will perform to close out the season. But it will be intriguing to see how he closes out the season and stacks up against the nation’s other top players when it’s all said and done.