Michigan has a player who’s the Big Ten’s last hope of neutralizing Marvin Harrison Jr.: Key
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has been arguably the Big Ten’s best player and potentially the nation’s best.
He’s caught 62 passes for 1,093 yards and 13 touchdowns, turning himself into a Heisman Trophy candidate in the process. He’s had at least 100 yards in seven games this season and reached the end zone at least once in all but two games including the last seven.
This season has been a year-long challenge to cornerbacks around the Big Ten — and the North in general — to see if anyone could potentially slow him down. The most likely challengers have done their best, but very few have achieved that goal. But Harrison doesn’t look at it that way.
“It’s part of football,” Harrison said. “When you have two great players, one’s a corner, the other’s a receiver, you look forward to the matchups sometimes. But I’ve been around football enough to know it doesn’t really go like that all the time. I think if you watch football you’ll understand the receivers line up all different places now. For it to just be a one-on-one kind of game it doesn’t really happen like that.”
Rarely does one player just follow another player around all game. It’s not often that he’s responsible for covering a wide receiver on every snap or be part of every target. But typically the best guys do at least get the lion’s share of those opportunities, as has been the case this season.
Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison got the first crack at it in an eventual 17-14 OSU win. As a whole, Harrison had three catches for 32 yards on seven targets. The Fighting Irish doubled him for practically the entire game, opening the door for Emeka Egbuka to shine. Morrison got five of those targets, resulting in two catches for 26 yards.
Up next was the player who has spent the most amount of time on Harrison this season in Penn State’s Kalen King, whom even Harrison acknowledges as a player whose role within the 20-12 OSU win was different than most college cornerbacks.
“He actually traveled with me,” Harrison said. “That’s something I really respect him a lot for doing because not a lot of corners do that.”
Harrison finished that afternoon with 11 catches for 162 yards and a score on 15 targets. King got 16 of those targets, resulting in five catches for 87 yards.
Wisconsin’s Ricardo Hallman was next as the most successful challenge so far. Harrison had six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns that day, but his three matchups with Hallman resulted in 0 catches. Plus Hallman got an interception later on in the 24-10 OSU win.
Rutgers’ Robert Longerbeam was next, allowing two touchdown catches on three targets in a 35-16 OSU win where Harrison had four catches for 25 yards overall.
Now it’s Michigan’s turn to provide former five-star recruit Will Johnson another chance against the favorite for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s best wide receiver. Last year Harrison had seven catches for 120 yards and a touchdown on nine targets in The Game. Johnson was responsible for three of those targets, resulting in three catches for 34 yards.
This matchup isn’t the most important thing in deciding Saturday’s winner. It might not even happen all that often given the Wolverines’ confidence in other guys. But it’ll surely be something to watch in the times it does happen.
