Marvin Harrison Jr. admits leaving Ohio State was difficult

Taking the next step in your career isn’t always the easiest of choices depending on your circumstances. That turned out to be the case for Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. when he was deciding between a return to Columbus or a jump to the NFL.

Harrison Jr. spoke about how tough that choice was with media ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft last week. He admitted it was a difficult one to make considering all that he didn’t accomplish while being a Buckeye. Still, in the end of his process, he felt turning pro was the best option for him

“Yes, definitely,” Harrison Jr. said. “You know, I think, a lot of things, I left unfinished and unsatisfied in college. Just for what was best for me at that moment was to move on with my career.”

To be perfectly clear, Harrison Jr. did quite a lot as a three-year collegiate player at Ohio State. For starters, he caught 155 passes for 2,613 yards and 31 touchdowns. Each of those rank him in the Top-10, if not top-five, in all of those categories in school history. Those earned him honors such as being a two-time Unanimous All-American, a winner of The Biletnikoff Award, and a finalist for The Heisman Trophy.

That also helped Harrison Jr. to be the No. 4 pick in the NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. That makes him one of the highest-drafted Buckeyes ever as the highest-drafted receiver in program history.

However, Harrison Jr. was likely referring to team success, at least in terms of titles, during his career.

Ohio State did win the Rose Bowl in 2021, a game in which Harrison Jr. announced himself by catching six passes for 71 yards and three touchdowns with the trio of scores tying a record for the game. The Buckeyes also made the College Football Playoff in 2022. They played Georgia in the Peach Bowl, where Harrison Jr. caught five passes for 106 yards and a pair of scores, but lost a 42-41 heartbreaker on New Year’s Eve after a missed, 50-yard field goal in the final seconds.

That’s about it as far as accomplishments for Ohio State over the last three years goes, though. Their record was 11-2 each season with Harrison Jr., which adds up to 33-6 overall since 2021. Even so, they lost three of those to Michigan, didn’t make, let alone win, a Big Ten Championship, and made just the one playoff appearance that went no further than that semifinal.

Harrison Jr.’s time in college is still a span that’ll be well-worth remember inside The ‘Shoe. Still, when it comes to future Buckeyes and their teams, he hopes to see them achieve what he and his did not.

“I hope all those guys get to do what I couldn’t,” Harrison Jr. said.