It is 7:45 a.m. Friday and one of the toughest workouts of Ohio State strength coach Mickey Marotti’s summer conditioning awaits in 45 minutes.

But Marvin Harrison Jr. doesn’t wait until 8:30 to start. The wide receiver’s quest for self-improvement never ends.

Harrison wants to improve in every way he can in his junior season. In 2022, he played through an ankle sprain that limited his ability to plant off his right foot. He has spent the last 10 weeks strengthening that leg.

With OSU’s training camp starting in less than two weeks, athletic trainer/physical therapist Adam Stewart is ready to gauge Harrison’s progress.

Stewart straps a resistance device called an isometric dynamometer to Harrison’s ankle and challenges him to lift his leg with as much force as he can. Harrison grimaces as he flexes.

Ten weeks ago, Harrison averaged a score of 70.6. In three flexes on Friday, he averaged 95.8 with a peak of 137.

Next up is a single-leg jump test. The goal is to jump 10.8 inches off his right leg. His first jump is 11.8, followed by 12.4 and finally, 13.

“The big goal we wanted to work on this year was to optimize not having any favoritism,” Stewart said. “We don’t want a DB to watch his tape and say he only cuts on his left leg.”

A graph that looks similar to an EKG shows the improvement. In May, the pattern showed he was favoring his left leg. Now the curves are almost perfectly symmetrical.

Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. is 'at the top'

Ohio State has a star-studded roster as usual. But talk to OSU insiders, and often unprompted, they’ll add a variation of, “And then there’s Marvin.”

Had Harrison been eligible for the 2023 NFL draft, he would have been among the first handful of picks. He's projected to be the first non-quarterback drafted next year.

“He’s off the charts,” said defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, whose unit is constantly challenged, and usually beaten, by Harrison in practice. “He never takes a play off. He’s arguably the best receiver in the country, and at the same time I’ve never been around anyone who works as hard as him.”

Head athletic trainer Doug Calland has been at Ohio State since 1995. He said most OSU players fall within a traditional bell curve. Some will never measure up. Most fall in the middle. Then there are the few who are truly special.

“He’s at the top,” Calland said. “I don’t know whether it’s genetics. It just all comes together to the point where he does things and it’s just easy for him. It’s like everything happens in slow motion for him.”

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Harrison laughs when told about the praise.

“They’re being very generous,” he said.

Obviously, Harrison is blessed genetically. His father is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his 13-year career as Peyton Manning’s favorite target with the Indianapolis Colts.

Former Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said the 6-foot-4 Harrison has legs the size of a 6-foot receiver, which allows him to break sharper out of cuts than a tall receiver typically can.

Fellow receiver Emeka Egbuka, a gifted athlete himself, marvels at the way Harrison’s body can endure workout after workout without getting sore.

“He's kind of like a bionic person,” Egbuka said. “In these (weight) lifts, he gets tired. But give him 30 minutes afterward, and he's good to go.”

Egbuka admits to a bit of envy.

“Yeah, that would be amazing if I could do that – just run routes 24/7 and not have my legs be tired,” he said. “To be able to go full speed and not having your hamstrings being burnt out from a lift, it definitely is a benefit.”

Harrison believes his ability to avoid soreness might be his most unique attribute. But that hasn’t developed magically.

“I think it’s just that I train my body to be able to withstand two or three workouts a day,” he said.

He’d like to do even more. Harrison is not happy that the Woody Hayes Athletic Center’s thumbprint-enabled entrance doesn’t allow players access after 7 p.m. in the offseason.

“I don’t like that at all,” he said. “During the season, it pushes back to 10, and I’m here until 11 or 12 catching passes.”

Playoff injury, loss added fuel to the fire for Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr.

By any measure, Harrison had a phenomenal sophomore season. With Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson off to the NFL, Harrison became the top receiver for C.J. Stroud. He caught 77 passes for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns.

But his season ended in disappointment. With Ohio State driving and ahead 35-24 late in the third quarter over defending national champion Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl, Stroud threw under pressure to Harrison in the back of the end zone. Georgia’s Javon Bullard leveled Harrison with a high hit. The ball was jarred free, and officials threw a penalty flag for targeting. But the call was overturned after replay review.

Harrison sustained a concussion. OSU medical personnel resisted his lobbying to let him play the fourth quarter as Georgia rallied to win.

Then and now, Harrison declined to criticize the officiating.

“They’re going to make their calls, and I’ve got to live with it,” he said.

Harrison is also grateful the OSU medical staff didn’t allow him to play despite his pleading.

“Obviously, they were looking out for me as a person and not just a football player,” he said, “so I thank and respect them for that every day.”

But Harrison said he has no doubt that if he’d been able to play the entire Georgia game, Ohio State would have won and then beaten TCU in the national championship game.

That has added fuel for this season. For as much as he has achieved, major team goals have eluded him in his Buckeye career. He hasn’t beaten Michigan. He hasn’t played in the Big Ten championship game or won a national title.

That drives Harrison, but so does something even purer.

“I think it's just a desire and hunger to be great,” he said. “You want to be the best version of yourself that you can be, and that became standard here at Ohio State when you play receiver.”

One goal for him this year is to be better at gaining yards after the catch.

“Taking a 5- to 10-yard pass and taking it the distance or make it a 60-yard gain would take me to the next level of where I want to get to,” he said.

To succeed in football, players must embrace the grind. So much work goes into so few games.

“It’s not basketball,” Harrison said. “You don’t get 82 games (like in the NBA). If you lose a game, it’s like, ‘OK, we play tomorrow.’ Football is not like that. You’ve got to bring it every day and you only get so many opportunities.”

On Wednesday, Harrison will join defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and tight end Cade Stover as Ohio State’s player representatives for Big Ten media days in Indianapolis.

It will be special for Harrison, in part because of his father’s past in Indianapolis. Marvin was 7 when his father retired, and he retains some memories of his father’s career.

Now Harrison wants to make new memories for himself.

“There’s a love for the game of football that’s there,” he said. “I just love the process of working and seeing the results show up on Saturdays. I love that process. There’s definitely a love and happiness that being a football player brings me.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. determined to be even better in 2023