Marvin Harrison Jr. plans to skip drills at NFL Combine

Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Jr. is approaching the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft quite differently from his predecessors. The potential No. 1 wide receiver off the draft board in April has not hired an agent to represent him ahead of the combine and the draft, and leading up to those major events, he’s not training for the classic combine drills either.

According to Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer and NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport, Harrison is choosing to skip out on the drills this week in Indianapolis. Instead, he’ll simply participate in the team interviews and let the teams hoping to draft him turn on the tape. When you’re the reigning Biletnikoff winner, they let you do that.

“All signs show Harrison’s plan is to continue working out in Columbus, Ohio with Buckeye strength and conditioning tycoon Mickey Marotti, among others, to prepare not to run a 40-yard dash, but play football in the fall,” Breer wrote on Monday.

“His sterling reputation as a worker and a person also give Harrison even more flexibility here,” he added. “That allows everyone to view Harrison’s plan as strictly a business decision, made with an eye towards having a great rookie year, rather than as some reflection on his character.”

While it may be a smart business decision for Harrison, his opting out of drills at the combine takes a bit of the spectacle away from the week’s festivities. The former Buckeye is one of the top overall prospects in this year’s draft, as well as one of the “freakiest” athletes in the group.

Harrison focused on rookie season preparations

In three years at Ohio State, Harrison had 155 catches, 2,613 yards, 31 touchdowns and 16.9 yards per catch. He eclipsed 1,200 yards in each of his last two seasons after playing sparingly as a freshman.

“The best way I can describe Marvin is he’s a grinder,” former teammate Garrett Wilson said to the New York Post. “He’s always going to be the best player on the field, but in a rare case that he wasn’t, he would be grinding the whole day after to make sure that was never the case again. That’s my favorite thing about him.” 

“He did 18 reps at 225 [pounds] on like his second day of being in the facility,” Wilson continued. “I had done my test two years earlier, and they actually had to change the bar to 185 for me. It was a big discrepancy, like, ‘Oh wow, this dude is not joking around.’ It tells you a lot about his work ethic. That’s not something you just have. You build that.” 

The NFL Scouting Combine’s live drills begin on Thursday, February 29th, with exclusive coverage on NFL Network starting at 3 p.m. ET. Thursday features drills with the defensive linemen and linebackers. Wide receivers hit the field on Saturday.