Marvin Harrison Jr. confirms 'good enough' status ahead of Maryland game
COLUMBUS — Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. will admit that his ankle is worse right now than the same ankle injury was a year ago.
But it didn’t sideline him last season, and the star wide receiver and Buckeyes best offensive weapon doesn’t expect it to put him on the shelf this season, either. Harrison Jr. confirmed Ryan Day’s assertion that he’ll play against Maryland on Saturday despite the ankle injury he sustained in the win over Notre Dame two weeks ago.
“I’m good enough,” Harrison Jr. said during a media appearance inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Wednesday night. “… It’s worse than the one last year but I’m good enough to play.”
Harrison injured the ankle while setting up a key block that spurred TreVeyon Henderson into the open field for a 61-yard touchdown run. He returned to the game and had a critical catch on the Buckeyes final drive at the end of the game, in which Ohio State scored a touchdown in the final seconds to beat the Fighting Irish.
The return to action, despite the injury, showed Harrison’s mettle during a critical moment of a critical game.
“I think that is a side of Marvin that I don’t know if people have seen yet. Just his toughness,” said Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, Harrison’s former high school teammate, last week.
“He could have easily just preserved himself in that moment. But that’s not who he is. That’s not the type of competitor that he is. And for him to come back and still have an impact and obviously make plays right away and then have that huge catch on that last drive. I mean I think that gives you everything you need to know about Marvin — the things that you can’t coach. That was big for him to come back.”
Lettermen Row saw Harrison catching passes on the Monarc machine during the Buckeyes idle week last Wednesday, the first sign that he would be good to go. And then Day confirmed that Harrison would be available this week against Maryland (Noon on FOX).
Now Harrison himself has ruled that he’s good to go for the Buckeyes, and he won’t miss any action due to an ankle injury. He played through an injury to the same ankle last year. It didn’t keep him out.
And it won’t have any impact on him or Ohio State this time either, even if that ankle is hurting a bit more.
