Urban Meyer calls for cold tub for red-hot Marvin Harrison

Every head coach loves a good opening script, especially when Marvin Harrison Jr. is on your team. Ohio State‘s Ryan Day is going to make sure the best receiver in the country gets the ball early in games. There has seemingly been a bigger emphasis on it in the past few weeks, at least according to Urban Meyer.

“You’ve got to get your best players the ball,” Meyer said. “You’ll see against Purdue and Penn State, Marvin Harrison Jr. touched the ball half of the reps. At one point, I think it was eight plays into it and he had four catches. I think Ohio State is doing an incredible job getting their best player the ball.”

Harrison recorded season highs in both receptions and yards against Penn State, going for 162 yards on 11 receptions. He added a touchdown which ended up being the dagger in the fourth quarter. Just another win for Ohio State against their Big Ten East rivals.

The goal of every opposing head coach is to attempt to make sure Harrison does not get open. Maybe there was some success doing so against Ohio State early in the year, specifically looking at the Notre Dame game where he only had three receptions and 32 yards.

Meyer believes Day will be “sick” every week if he does not find a way to have Kyle McCord distribute the ball to Harrison. Sure, there is a ton of wide receiver depth on the roster and Brian Hartline has recruited better than anyone in the country. But when Harrison is on your team, no other playmaker even compares.

“Early in the year, he wasn’t getting the ball as much,” Meyer said. “Ryan is too good of a coach — and Hartline — to (not) get this guy the ball. In my opinion, you can’t let that guy touch the ball at all. If he touches the ball 20 times a game… You’re sick after the game if he doesn’t touch the ball.”

Ohio State is just a few weeks away from The Game against Michigan. Depending on the result, a Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff berth could be in there as well. Day is likely to call Harrison’s number quite a few more times moving forward.

Meyer wants to make sure the receiver’s recovery prepares him for the upcoming workload.

“Five, six, seven games left,” Meyer began. “I hope they’re putting him in the cold tub every week because they’re going to use him. He is the best player in college football.”