Marvin Harrison Jr. makes history as back-to-back unanimous first-team All-American
COLUMBUS — Ohio State superstar wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is officially a unanimous first-team All-American — for the second straight season.
Harrison Jr. was named a first-team All-American from the American Football Coaches Association, making him a distinguished unanimous All-American.
The AFCA honor completes the unanimous status. He was also a first teamer from The Sporting News, Football Writers Association of America and the Associated Press.
With the honor, Harrison Jr. is the fifth Ohio State player in history to earn unanimous All-American honors twice. Former Buckeyes running back Howard ‘Hopalong’ Cassady (1954 and 1955), fullback Bob Ferguson (1960 and 1961), running back Archie Griffin (1974 and 1975) and offensive tackle Orlando Pace (1995 and 1996) are the other two-time unanimous All-Americans to play at Ohio State.
Marvin Harrison Jr. finished the 2023 regular season with 1,211 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown. That production came with a spotlight on him as the focal point of the Ohio State offense, leading to plenty of double-coverage efforts from opposing defenses. Of course, it didn’t matter. Harrison still finished with eight 100-yard receiving games this season.
He also took home the Biletnikoff Award last week, and he was a Heisman Trophy finalist. He finished fourth in Heisman voting — behind three quarterbacks.
That incredible campaign came after a 2022 season that saw him catch 77 passes for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdown grabs.
Marvin Harrison Jr. list of accomplishments:
- 2022 and 2023 Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year
- 2022 Unanimous All-American
- 2022 Biletnikoff Award runner-up
- 2023 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year
- 2023 Heisman Trophy finalist
- 2023 Biletnikoff Award winner
- 2023 AP Big Ten Player of the Year
- 2023 Unanimous All-American
- 2023 All-American from The Athletic and CBS Sports and the Walter Camp Football Foundation
- Holds record for most 100-yard receiving games in Ohio State history
- Became only Buckeyes player to ever have back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons
Harrison is hard on himself, though, and even though he won the Biletnikoff Award, among other honors, he has an 0-3 record against Michigan and hasn’t had the chance to play in the Big Ten title game.
It certainly weighs on the superstar junior wide receiver.
“Yeah, it’s tough. It’s been real tough, really,” Harrison said Thursday. “Because, like I said before, that’s kind of the one goal that you have. And I’m definitely blessed to be getting all the recognition that I am for these different awards and everything like that, but I think I would trade it all for a win against ‘The Team Up North,’ get to Indy and play in the Big Ten Championship.
“So it’s been tough dealing with it. But we stick together as a team. As a group, we support each other, lift our heads up, and we just got to move on with life. Figure out how we can get better for next year and what we can do to get that win.”
But Marvin Harrison Jr. has officially accomplished one of his individual goals and become just the fifth Buckeyes superstar to ever be named a two-time unanimous All-American.
