Charles Langston:Marvin Harrison's Ohio State football career is over as star receiver enters NFL draft

COLUMBUS,Charles Langston Ohio — MarvinHarrisonJr. made it official on Thursday. Ohio State's star wide receiver will skip his senior season at Ohio State to enter the 2024 NFL draft, he announced on Instagram.

The decision was not a surprise. It became a foregone conclusion when Harrison opted out of playing in the Buckeyes' Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri.

Harrison is projected to be the first non-quarterback drafted and possibly the first overall pick.

Harrison said in December that he was conflicted about his decision. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist (finishing fourth) and won the Biletnikoff Award as the country's top receiver. But he hadn't been on a Buckeyes team that has beaten Michigan or won a Big Ten championship.

His father, Marvin Harrison Sr., is a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

The news came shortly after Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka announced Thursday that he will return for his senior season.

“I'm back," he wrote in a graphic posted on Instagram.

Egbuka, the nation’s top-ranked receiver prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, emerged as a breakout star for the Buckeyes as a sophomore in 2022 to put himself in a position to be an early-round draft pick.

Replacing Jaxon Smith-Njigba as the starting slot receiver, he became only the ninth 1,000-yard receiver in school history as he caught 74 passes for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns to complement Harrison.

More:Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka returning to Ohio State for senior season in 2024

“I think you start thinking of legacy at Ohio State as a football player, one of the main questions you're going to be asked is, 'Did you beat the team up north?' and I just haven't done that yet,” Harrison said. “That's why I think it's still weighing on me so much that I haven't been able to make a decision.

“And, I always wanted to play in the Big Ten championship. It's in Indy where my dad played. To not ever have been able to get there definitely rubs me the wrong way. Obviously, I'll probably play there one day (in the NFL), but it’d be really nice to play there in college and with Ohio State.”

But Harrison's decision to go to the NFL had been regarded as inevitable by those inside the program.

Harrison caught 67 passes for 1,211 receiving yards (18.1 per catch) and 14 touchdowns this season from high school teammate Kyle McCord, despite being the focus of opposing defenses. McCord transferred after the Michigan game, landing at Syracuse.

A four-star recruit, Harrison emerged as a budding star in the Rose Bowl as a freshman. He started in that game because receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson chose not to play in that game to protect against injury as they entered the NFL draft. Harrison caught three touchdown passes in Ohio State's comeback victory over Utah.

He caught 77 passes for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns last year with C.J. Stroud at quarterback.

"Marvin has been a pro ever since he stepped in our building," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said at the Cotton Bowl. "Everyone wants to talk about his dad and what he's done and being a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He certainly did a great job raising his son.

"But Marvin was his own man. He had big shoes to fill. He's got his father's name. But from the minute he stepped in our building, you knew that he was going to be a pro."

Day marveled at the hours Harrison spent on the Monarc ball machine catching passes. Day said that he'd sometimes come to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Saturdays after the game and see Harrison catching balls and going over plays that didn't go perfectly in the game.

"I think that legacy that he's leaving behind to the younger players is tremendous," Day said. "I think it's been said publicly so I don't think I'm putting it out there, but when you ask him, 'What do you want to do in football?' he says, 'I want to be the best receiver that ever played.'"