Ohio State star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. officially declares for the 2024 NFL Draft, leaving behind one of the great legacies in Buckeyes history.
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00:00 More on a Mecca here in a moment, but let's focus on Marvin Harrison Jr. for a moment.
00:05 You know, I actually heard earlier today from Nick Saban, you know, given all the chatter around his retirement.
00:14 And he talked about how, you know, when you retire, people are going to look at your record and they're going to judge you by your record, your wins, your losses, your championships, whatever.
00:26 But he specifically said that legacy is how you do it.
00:31 And I just loved how simple and straightforward that was.
00:35 And it kind of has me thinking about the legacy that Marvin Harrison Jr. sets as he leaves Ohio State, because, I mean, he is unquestionably one of the all-time great Ohio State wide receivers.
00:49 Some of that's what mom and dad and God gave him, right? But an awful lot of that has to do with his own work ethic and the countless hours that he was in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center by himself, catching balls, running routes from the Jugs machine.
01:06 You know, Ryan Day alluded to it a lot. Brian Hartline has certainly said it, even Kevin Wilson a couple of years ago.
01:12 Marvin had an elite work ethic. And when you combine that with the incredible talent that he's got, you get a really special player and hopefully the kind of guy that for a long, long time, future Buckeyes can look at and say, "That's the standard of excellence that I'm trying to hit."
01:33 Yeah, it's such a good point because he's so blessed in so many ways, right? He's tall, he's fast, he's strong, he's got great hands. But, you know, the work ethic thing is something that is, you know, frankly, is rare in this day and age, right?
01:45 You know, we're in this world now in college football where if stuff doesn't go your way, people leave and do whatever.
01:52 But to see him really set the example, and I think you set a great point there, for all of these guys that come in and who are the best player, not only on their team, but in their county, in their state, you know, they now know the work that it takes because Marvin Harrison laid that groundwork.
02:08 He was probably the best player on the team, you know, four years ago, but he still put the work in each and every day to kind of get after his goals. And it's going to pay off. He's going to be a top five pick in the NFL draft.
02:18 And like you said, that should lay the groundwork for, "Hey, this is how you do it." You don't just walk into Ohio State and be great just because you were great at high school. You have to put the work in day in and day out. And then that's Marvin Harrison Jr.
02:30 You know, and I think in this world where, you know, Marvin would roll into a press conference with sunglasses and music playing and a Louis Vuitton bag and all this other stuff, when you're that good, you know, you can kind of get away with some of that, right?
02:50 But I think maybe that masks a little bit. Doesn't, you know, doesn't show how much this guy's willing to get his fingers dirty, right? I mean, the guy who wants to go work hard enough that he can't just talk the talk, he walks the walk.
03:09 Like this, these aren't just cliches. Like you'll hear coaches talk about, if you want to be good at something, you got to figure out exactly what you want to do, how you think you're going to get there. Like what are the steps required to do it?
03:28 Are you willing to put the work in? And then are you willing to embrace it when it sucks? Because there are so many hours that go into building your portfolio of whatever you're doing. There are so many hours that nobody will ever see.
03:45 You don't get the praise and, you know, you have to want to go through that stuff. And it takes a special kind of person, even at a school, with players as elite as Ohio State.
04:00 I just think Marvin Harrison Jr. is an incredibly special player that has the ability to leave a legacy that Ohio State's coaches are going to look at for a long, long time, even if it's not just this era of coaches.
04:14 We'll look back on Marvin Harrison Jr. for decades, not just what he accomplished, but how he went about doing his business. Again, you know, a guy that grew up under the umbrella of having one of the all-time great wide receivers in the history of the game.
04:31 You know, as a father, he's got a gold jacket. Marvin's bigger and faster and stronger than his dad was, which is a freaky thought, but he does the work to back it up. And I just think that can't be underscored.
04:46 And I would also add to that, too, like what is going to make him special in terms of Ohio State is how much he loved the program and how much he was committed to Ohio State.
04:56 Again, that's rare in this day and age where you can go and move and go find different opportunities and go try different stuff. But, you know, he was so bought in to Ohio State to the point where, you know, coming into the year, he was definitely going to be a first-round pick, top-10 pick.
05:10 But he was a very – I thought there was a chance he was going to come back because of what they hadn't accomplished. And it's like that's such a rare quality to have, the buy-in he has, the love he has for this program and for Ohio State football.
05:22 It's just so rare, and it's been so fun to watch him play because not only is he spectacular, but you can root for a guy who puts his heart and soul into his craft like Marvin Harrison Jr. did.
05:32 You know, my guess is, my hunch, is that's not going to stop when he leaves Columbus. It's going to continue to whatever NFL team is lucky enough to draft him.