2022 NFL Draft: Zach Harrison dominates in 2021 debut

Ohio State pass rusher Zach Harrison could wind up being one of the top 20 players picked in the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s off to a hot start.

The 2021 college football season is officially underway, which means 2022 NFL Draft talk is only going to ramp up from here. On Thursday night, a battle between two Big Ten teams (Ohio State and Minnesota) pitted some of the top prospects in the country against each other.

In particular, Ohio State obviously is a near-constant focus of NFL clubs, and in this particular matchup, it was one of their top stars that shined the brightest. That star would be none other than edge defender Zach Harrison, a player many have been expecting to have a major breakthrough season in 2021 after showing his tremendous potential in the years prior.

Harrison was outright dominant in this game at times, and despite some huge plays from fellow first-round prospects like wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, Harrison is rightfully the name everyone is talking about after Thursday night.

It was a big start to the 2021 campaign for Harrison, who was credited with three tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in this game.

There was no doubt about the strip-sack he caused being an absolute turning point in this game as far as just completely taking the wind out of Minnesota’s sails.

And it was a perfect microcosm of what makes Harrison such a coveted prospect by NFL teams.

On this second-down play, you can clearly see Harrison’s burst, leverage, length, and bend around the edge coming into play. His outstanding length allows him to swat at the ball and really create this turnover, but the whole package here on this play is rather impressive.

After the Bosa brothers, the Buckeyes sent Chase Young into the NFL. There have been plenty of other stud prospects on that side of the ball including plenty of interior linemen who are recently breaking out into stars (hello, Dre’Mont Jones) but the 2022 NFL Draft will be the Zach Harrison year for this impressive lineage of pass rushers.

Larry Johnson cranks these guys out like it’s easy, and Harrison is certainly unique compared to his predecessors in a number of ways.

After a long offseason of talking and projecting and prognosticating, it’s a lot of fun (unless you’re a Gophers fan) to see a player like Harrison come out to open the season and play this well.

He’s picking up where he left off in 2020 and that is great news for the Buckeyes as they eye yet another Big Ten run in 2021.