Marvin Harrison Jr. Undecided On Cotton Bowl, Ohio State Future

Ohio State junior wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said Thursday that he is undecided on whether or not he will play in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri, and is still deciding whether or not to return for his senior season with the Buckeyes.

“Still undecided,” Harrison said of potentially entering the NFL Draft. “Coming into this year, I wanted to beat The Team Up North and win a Big Ten championship and obviously I did not do that this year, so I think there’s great motive to come back if that’s what I decide to do.

“That’s something I definitely want to do in my Ohio State career and not having done not yet, it definitely opens the door for me to come back,” he continued. “But I’m undecided, really just taking it day-by-day at this at this time.”

Should he enter the draft, Harrison is expected to be the top wide receiver, and could be one of the top non-quarterbacks selected this spring. His stock has arrived at this point after three seasons with the Buckeyes where he collected 155 receptions for 2,613 yards and 31 touchdowns, including back-to-back seasons of at least 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns.

But Harrison reiterated that those goals of beating Michigan and winning a Big Ten championship are giving him serious consideration as to potentially returning for another season at Ohio State.

“I think as a freshman, you come to the Big Ten, a school like Ohio State where the Big Ten championship is played and you want to play in Indy so bad,” he said. “When I got here, it’s was like it’s going to be a foregone conclusion that we’re going to play in Indy every year, and obviously that has yet to happen for me. I think incomplete’s the way you could describe (my college career), but it’s just something that if I do decide to move on and not come back, I’m going to have to live with it. It would be very hard for me.”

Harrison also said that while he will be with the team in Arlington, Texas, as it prepares for the Cotton Bowl, he has yet to make a decision on whether or not he will participate in the game.

“I’m undecided,” he said. “Don’t know yet. … I want to go out with a win. Hopefully that’s something that we could do there if I were to play.”