RADIO
Welcome to Coach Knows Ball, an NFL Draft series analyzing the top prospects in the 2024 class. I'm a college football coach with nine years of NCAA experience and have been scouting NFL Draft prospects for over 15 years. This series will give a deep dive into the film of some of the top players in this draft class, with detailed insight into future NFL standouts' strengths, weaknesses, and projections.
Scouting NFL draft prospects is about projecting translatable traits. There is often overlap between translatable traits and college performance, but there's a reason many top college players are not considered legitimate professionals. For example, a wide receiver being able to get in and out of breaks efficiently will not change from college to pro. Conversely, an edge-rusher who got most of his sacks due to hustle or missed offensive line assignments may not have shown translatable traits on film.
The film clips in this series show each pro prospect's positive and negative traits. Reading this article will give you a more in-depth look into each player with actual in-game visual evidence. We will continue our Coach Knows Ball series with Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
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Marvin Harrison Jr. Rookie Profile
Marvin Harrison Jr. is one of the most heralded wide receiver prospects of all time. The son of a former NFL great, Harrison burst onto the scene in 2022, performing as the best receiver in all of college football with C.J. Stroud as his quarterback.
He had another successful season in 2023, cementing his status as one of the best prospects regardless of position in the 2024 NFL Draft. In a loaded WR class, Harrison's status as the clear-cut WR1 is being threatened this draft season by other terrific prospects. Let's dive into the film.
In His Blood
The first trait that pops up in Harrison's film is his ability to make crazy difficult catches. He has elite ball skills in most situations. With the highest drop rate among the top WRs in this class, some may question his hands. Drops as a stat are generally overrated, and make no mistake -- Harrison has special hands. His coordination while being contacted is unbelievable.
In the clip below, Harrison is being literally tackled by the Michigan defender, and does not have access to his left hand. He's still able to get his eyes to the ball and reel it into his body with just his right hand.
In the clip below, the ball is placed right at the Penn State defender. Harrison collides with him and makes a similar catch -- quickly bringing his right hand up to secure the ball into his body while fighting contact. The key translatable trait here besides the ball skills is his strength and size to jolt the defender off the spot. Harrison has enough size to be physical against DBs.
The clip below shows another high-level-of-difficulty reception in front of a crowd. Harrison is running a dig, but the ball is placed out of reach. He snaps his eyes and belly button to the catch point and secures the ball almost parallel to the ground.
Harrison's instinct is to use his body while catching the ball in many situations. However, there are plenty of reps that show an ability to extend and make plays with his hands. Using your body to secure catches -- especially difficult ones -- is absolutely viable and not really a negative despite what some may say.
In the clip below, we see Harrison snatch a high-thrown ball on a slant. Not only do his arms extend quickly, but he's also able to tuck quickly and survive aggressive contact in a tight space.
The clip below shows more work without body catching. Harrison wins on a vertical route, and uses late hands and excellent technique to complete the catch for a touchdown. One of the coaching points is to "catch above your eyes" as to not give the defender any chance to play the ball. He also closes his left shoulder away from the defender's hand and quickly moves the ball to his right side, giving the defender no chance. It's high-level catching technique from a natural.
Twitchy and Sticky
Harrison and his camp decided not to train for the 40-yard-dash this draft season, an interesting strategy not often used by draft prospects. Even without a 40, it's evident on film that he plays fast enough. He did a great job stair-stepping to score touchdowns running after the catch on shallow crosses. More important than speed, Harrison has the twitchiness and quickness necessary to excel at any route.
Specifically adept at curls and comebacks, Harrison's ability to sink his hips and use efficient footwork and head snaps make him a fine outside route-runner.
In the clip below, Harrison is running a comeback and puts his cover defender on skates. He attacks the blind spot of the cornerback, and shows terrific hip sink and head snap to win the breakpoint.
In the clip below, you can see Harrison work against the press. One of the best parts of his game is how he closes the space on his releases and erases the cornerback's cushion. Here, he also shows off his play strength and uses violent hands to quickly swipe the defender's shoulder pad away. That's excellent handwork, and it's married to quick feet. Harrison is a natural separator on routes that work back toward the ball.
The reason any receiver is able to run routes like hitches, curls, and comebacks effectively is that they threaten their cover defender vertically. Harrison has the long speed to win down the field.
In the clip below, Harrison motors to close the space on his release, then wins with speed to separate from the press-man corner. He finishes with a contested catch because the ball is not placed out in front.
Elite quickness is necessary for wide receivers. Cooper Kupp didn't run a 4.4, but his quickness makes him an amazing separator. Harrison possesses the quick-twitch lower body to stick his foot in the ground on sharp breakpoints and explode out quickly.
In the clip below, Harrison is running a slant against cover zero. The Michigan State defensive coaching staff is not helping out its nickel here, and the matchup ends as you'd expect. Notice how quickly he accelerates off of his right footstick. You can also see the arrogance with the almost-too-quick flip of the official. Confidence won't be an issue.
The clip below shows Harrison aligned as the No. 3 receiver with Purdue running cover zero in the red zone. This is a common man-beating red zone concept, as the No. 1 and No. 2 run short ins while No. 3 runs a corner route.
While Harrison undoubtedly shows translatable traits, including quickness out of the break and speed to run away, I'm not sure it's how the route was coached. Typically, a receiver who inside releases off the line will, at some point, look to push vertical. Down in the red zone, it gets trickier, as the cover defender has the back line to work with. Here, Harrison doesn't actually threaten the defender vertical, but his break is so sudden and his acceleration is so fast that he wins easily anyway.
I do not have access to Ohio State's playbook and don't know exactly how they teach each route. I do suspect, however, that Harrison breaks routes off shallower and quicker than his coaches would like. I've coached gifted athletes who are so good, especially at sharp breaks, that they rush routes. Harrison will probably improve that habit in the pros. On some of his slot routes in particular, he broke at surprisingly shallow depths.
Patience is Key
It's tough to find weaknesses in Harrison's game. His film isn't flawless, but with his size, athleticism, and ball skills, the traits are obvious. Even when his technique isn't pristine, you can still see the movement skills that translate in a big way.
Among the top prospects in the class, Harrison actually had the second-highest 2023 drop rate behind Oregon's Troy Franklin at 8.2%. Drops aren't the stickiest stat, so I try to evaluate the natural coordination rather than simply count drops. With Harrison, it's mostly due to concentration or flipping his eyes up the field too quickly in an effort to run after the catch. It coincides with his habit of rushing routes -- he rushes to run before securing the catch.
The clip below shows exactly that. Harrison's eyes come off the ball, and he tries to run without securing the catch first.
The clip below is a double-catch where Harrison again takes his eyes off the ball. The pass is placed perfectly; there's no reason to have lazy hands and fight the ball here. He should exaggerate his eyes. He's rushing to stick the landing and stay in bounds rather than securing the catch first.
Harrison has elite ball skills and coordination, but he'll likely drop some passes in the NFL. The league leaders in drops are typically some of the best WRs in the league. He'll be just fine.
The one area that Harrison can improve is his functional strength as a blocker. In the clip below, you see him appear on a crack block against a safety. He's aggressive initially, but does not have leverage and gets tossed to the ground as a result. At 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, putting on some muscle will likely be necessary. Although his father wasn't exactly a powerful player, he's now in the Hall of Fame. I don't think NFL coaches will ask him to block inside the box all that often.
NFL Outlook
Marvin Harrison Jr. lives up to the hype on film. He has everything teams look for in a No. 1 wide receiver and makes some of the most amazing contested catches you'll see. He showed off his speed, scoring touchdowns on a lot of shallow crosses. He also possesses the twitch and quickness that makes him lethal on releases and on all types of routes. Sometimes I suspect he's rushing things, but he has all the tools to develop into one of the best WRs in the entire NFL.
If you want to read and watch some of my past film breakdowns, click the links below.
- Rome Odunze - WR, Washington
- Brock Bowers - TE, Georgia
- Caleb Williams - QB, USC
- Drake Maye - QB, North Carolina
- Jayden Daniels - QB, LSU
- C.J. Stroud - QB, Ohio State
- Anthony Richardson - QB, Florida
- Bijan Robinson - RB, Texas
- Jahmyr Gibbs - RB, Alabama
- Breece Hall - RB, Iowa State (2022)
- Garrett Wilson - WR, Ohio State (2022)
- Ja'Marr Chase - WR, LSU (2021)
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more draft content in the coming days.
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