Arizona Cardinals know what they're getting in 'all-business' Marvin Harrison Jr.
Darius Robinson’s left hand beamed brighter than his ear-to-ear grin Friday during the former Missouri defensive lineman’s introductory press conference with the Arizona Cardinals.
Robinson, the Cardinals’ second selection in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, wore his Cotton Bowl ring while seated alongside new teammate Marvin Harrison Jr., who Arizona took No. 4 overall Thursday night and who enjoyed a prolific career at the school Missouri beat in the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State.
“No, I didn’t show it to Marvin,” said Robinson, who opened the presser almost starstruck by Harrison, when he was asked about the New Year’s Six bling. “I was telling Marvin, we was glad he didn’t play.”
Harrison laughed, as did the rest of the room.
Robinson continued: “The whole week leading up [to the Cotton Bowl], you see Ohio State. Everybody said, ‘OK, Marvin Harrison.’ And everybody’s like, ‘Is he gonna play, is he gonna play?’ He didn’t play.
“So, you know, we lucked out.”
Because Harrison can turn losses into wins, like when he broke out in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2021 season with three touchdowns, including a game-tying score to help Ohio State outlast Utah; or the following year when he moved the chains on all 10 of his receptions in a comeback win at Penn State; or early this past season when he helped right a fluttering Ohio State offense against Maryland, first, with a 58-yard catch downfield and, eventually, with a game-sealing score.
Perhaps the best example would have been the 2022 Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal versus Georgia when Harrison put on a clinic with 106 receiving yards and, more notably, two touchdown catches, both completing out-of-structure throws from quarterback C.J. Stroud. That was, before a punishing blow sidelined Harrison with a concussion late in the third quarter.
After settling for a field goal on that possession, Ohio State led by 14 points. Georgia won not only that game but also its second straight national title.
The Bulldogs got lucky, too.
Harrison’s actions speak louder than his words
Harrison has a quiet demeanor. He prefers a night in watching movies in his apartment. His fashion-forward outfits — like his Louis Vuitton cleats and Apple Watch pairing under the lights versus Wisconsin in 2022 or his “Lion King,” father-son-themed chain Thursday night at the draft — are louder than the words he speaks.
Nothing is more pronounced, however, than his on-field performance. The name “Marvin Harrison Jr.” carries significantly more weight than his 6-foot-3, 209-pound frame, and not just because he’s the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison Sr.
Although Big Ten and national titles escaped him, Harrison is the highest-drafted wideout in Ohio State history, last year’s winner of the Biletnikoff Award — given annually to the top receiver in college football — a two-time unanimous first-team All-American and a Heisman Trophy finalist.
“This is a big-time, big-time playmaker. They need blue-chip difference makers on this roster for the Arizona Cardinals,” NFL Draft expert Daniel Jeremiah said after Harrison’s selection, via NFL Network. “[Kyler Murray] has a No. 1 wide receiver, and not two years from now, three years from now — this is a No. 1 wide receiver this year.”
Murray, the Cardinals’ dual-threat signal caller who is entering his sixth season in the NFL, hit the line of his second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon after Harrison heard his name called.
“Yeah, I heard from him,” Gannon said Thursday night with a smile.
General manager Monti Ossenfort cut in: “He sent a couple of texts. Probably can’t share those with you guys. But how about this? How about we just say Kyler was pretty excited? Kyler was pretty fired up.”
So was offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., Harrison’s former Ohio State teammate who Arizona picked No. 6 overall in last year’s draft.
Gannon joked after the first round that Cardinals brass don’t listen to any of their own players when it comes to personnel decisions. Ossenfort jumped in once again, noting that Johnson “definitely gave Marvin a glowing endorsement.”
Johnson greeted Harrison upon his arrival Friday, sat in the front row for the introductory press conference and posed for pictures with the receiver afterward.
“This is kind of like two years in the making with Paris,” Harrison said. “We kind of had this conversation, going back to even before he got drafted from the Cardinals, [about] getting a chance to play with him again. Hopefully when I score some touchdowns, he raises me up in his arms like he used to do in college.
“… Not only is he gonna be a great teammate but a great friend to have as well.”
All business, fitting the price of admission
Harrison spent most of his intro press conference talking about his approach to football, a detail-oriented mindset that drew Ossenfort and Gannon to the superstar Ohio State product.
Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day saw it firsthand the last three years.
“Sometimes you have talented guys, [and] they lack discipline and lack skill. Not Marvin,” Day said in the hours leading up to the draft Thursday, via ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
“He has unbelievable discipline. … His effort, his work, his focus, all those types of things — but then the skill, the skill to run underneath routes, make plays down the field and, because of that, whoever gets him tonight is gonna get a franchise player.”
Arizona, of course, got Harrison. Ossenfort didn’t think twice when the Cardinals were on the clock. In his words, it was a “stick and pick” situation.
A top-30 visit with Harrison earlier this month sealed the deal.
Unlike the NFL Combine, where the Cardinals had quick interviews with Harrison and other prospects in Indianapolis, they got to spend a full day with Harrison when he visited in-house.
“When that day concluded, I felt pretty convicted about who Marvin was. I was already convicted about who Marvin was as a player. After that day, convicted of who he was as a person.”
Gannon said he believes Harrison, Robinson — and whoever the Cardinals pick the final two days of the draft — “all will fit the price of admission.”
“They are not worried about the future, they’re not worried about jersey numbers,” Gannon explained Thursday night. “They are worried about, ‘When do I get the playbook,’ and ‘I want to do anything I can to get caught up as quick as I can to help the team win.’ That’s what I mean by all-business.
“There is no laughy-taffy, goofy, hey, this and that. It’s all business. They are all ball.”
‘Marvin has a plan’
Harrison discussed how he grew up with an eye toward being a pro. That meant training like a pro, in other words consistently working hard at every level of the sport, even when his natural talent didn’t demand it.
His work ethic helped him shatter Philadelphia Catholic League records at St. Joe’s Prep, and it helped him rise to prominence in a jam-packed, NFL-laden Ohio State wide receiver room.
“You got to earn the trust of the quarterback,” Harrison said. “I think it starts every day in practice. … You can’t just do it one day. You can’t just do it for one week. It has to be done over and over and over again. I think that’s how trust is earned. So no matter where you get picked, whether you’re the first receiver or it’s round seven, it doesn’t really matter.
“You have to go in there and earn the trust of the quarterback, your coaches, your teammates. So it all starts in practice.”
To Harrison, “practice” includes before and after the designated practice time. He spent countless hours inside Ohio State’s Woody Hayes Athletic Center catching balls from a Monarc pass-throwing machine. Everything he does in his preparation is deliberate, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Marvin has a plan. Marvin has a plan on why he’s been as successful as he is thus far and why we believe he’s going to continue to ascend,” Ossenfort said Thursday night. “Whether it’s the way he takes care of his body, the way he practices the extra prehab rehab that he does, his plan for improving his skill set — he has a plan.
“That certainly has helped being around his father, I’m sure. And I think that probably stands out just the way he approaches his job.”
Harrison is eager to start catching passes and earning the trust of his new quarterback, Murray.
“Hopefully as soon as possible,” Harrison said.
The Arizona Cardinals social media team released “On the Call” footage of the Cardinals giving Harrison the call Thursday night. The phone passed from Ossenfort to Gannon to owner Michael Bidwill as Harrison realized a lifelong dream in Detroit’s Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza.
“I can tell you that all of Arizona is so fired up to have you here — our locker room, all our fans,” Bidwill said. “And we know you’re going to make a huge difference in terms of elevating our offense and really getting us to where we want to go, which is the Super Bowl.”
If Harrison gets the Cardinals to where they want to go, he and Robinson could both have rings of the same kind, and a significant part in a championship legacy the franchise has been trying to write for more than half a century.
