“You guys know coming into his year I wanted to beat ‘The Team Up North’ and win a Big Ten championship, and obviously I did not do that this year,” said Harrison, who is part of the first Ohio State recruiting class to be 0-3 against Michigan since the group that entered college in 1995 and got their first win in ‘98.
“So I think that’s a great motive to come back if that’s what I decide to do. That is something I definitely wanted to do in my Ohio State career, and not being able to do that yet definitely opens the door for me to come back, but I haven’t decided. Really just taking it day to day at this point.”
The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison said finances would not be a consideration in his decision, and he is also undecided about suiting up for the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri on Dec. 29.
He does plan to travel to Dallas with his teammates, though.
“I’ll be there,” Harrison said. “I don’t know if I’m playing, but I’ll be there.”
The younger Harrison was a four-star prospect coming out of Philadelphia St. Joseph’s Prep three years ago.
He was the 14th-ranked receiver in his class but has far outperformed those expectations already.
A finalist for the Heisman Trophy (nation’s most outstanding player) and the Biletnikoff Award (best receiver), Harrison has already been named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and receiver of the year after catching 14 touchdown passes and averaging 100.9 yards receiving per games.
With 1,210 yards receiving, the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder is already the first Ohio State player to post multiple 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
Harrison is sixth all-time at Ohio State in receiving yards (2,613) and receptions (155) while ranking third in touchdown catches (31).
No Buckeye has more than his 15 games with at least 100 yards receiving, and last year he became the first Buckeye receiver to be a unanimous All-American.
As many as a dozen players in Harrison’s class could be candidates to enter the draft early, though none have indicated they will yet.
So far, running back Miyan Williams, who suffered a season-ending injury in October, is the only Ohio State player to declare he will enter the draft with eligibility remaining. He signed in 2020 and took a redshirt.
Aside from draft decisions, more than a dozen Ohio State players have already entered the transfer portal, including quarterback Kyle McCord, who was a high school teammate of Harrison.
The latest to announce he will explore his transfer options is Chip Trayanum, a running back who has already spent two seasons at Ohio State after playing his first two years at Arizona State.
— DeaMonte “Chip” Trayanum (@Chipperrz_) December 6, 2023
Players who enter the portal are able to (and sometimes do) return to their original school, though the school is not required to save their scholarship for them.
The final deadline for players to file paperwork with the NFL regarding their intention to enter the draft early is Jan. 15, but lately the trend has been for players who are going pro and not on a team in the College Football Playoff to sit out their bowl game to avoid the risk of injury and get a jump on scouting combine preparations.
Harrison is expected to be taken in the top 10 of the 2024 draft if he does declare.
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