Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is under consideration for the most prestigious award in all of college football, as he was named a finalist on Monday for the Heisman Trophy and will be in New York for the presentation ceremony on Saturday
Harrison finished the regular season with 67 receptions for 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns, leading Ohio State in every category. He became the first Ohio State receiver to post 1,000 receiving yards in two seasons and surpassed David Boston for the most 100-yard receiving games in team history with 15.
Harrison began receiving serious consideration for the award midway through the season, with his case boosted by eight games in which he collected at least five receptions, at least 100 receiving yards and at least one touchdown. His best outing of the season came in Ohio State’s win over Penn State on Oct. 21 in which he posted a season-high 11 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown.
“I think I’ve said it before that the Heisman Trophy goes to the most outstanding player in the country,” head coach Ryan Day said earlier this season. “I know there’s a lot of great players out there. I get to see him every day. I think he’s the most outstanding player in the country. He came in right from the jump with a work ethic that really has transcended throughout the whole team. … He makes everybody on that field better.”
Ohio State has seen seven previous Heisman winners, including Les Horvath (1944), Vic Janowicz (1950), Howard Cassidy (1955), Archie Griffin (1974, 1975), Eddie George (1995) and Troy Smith (2006). Harrison is the fifth Ohio State player to be named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in the last six seasons, including Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields and Chase Young (2019) and C.J. Stroud (2021 and 2022).
Harrison is a finalist along with a trio of quarterbacks – LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., with Daniels considered the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Just four wide receivers have ever won the Heisman Trophy, including Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers (1972), Notre Dame’s Tim Brown (1987), Michigan’s Desmond Howard (1991) and Alabama’s DeVonta Smith (2020).
Harrison is still expected to come home with some hardware, however, is he is considered the favorite for the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the top receiver in college football. But Harrison will learn his fate for the Heisman this weekend, as the Heisman Trophy ceremony will begin on ESPN on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m.
