ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Going into the Michigan-Ohio State football game, the big question was how defensive coordinator Jesse Minter would slow Marvin Harrison Jr., the enigmatic wideout for the Buckeyes.
As Jim Harbaugh said before the game, his team wasn’t going to be able to stop him, and that ended up being true. Harrison managed five catches on nine targets for 118 yards and a touchdown. After the game, Harrison noted he had never seen the type of coverage Minter, the former secondary coach with the Baltimore Ravens, threw at him until The Game.
“I don’t know if I’ve gotten doubled more in a game than today,” Harrison said. “The safety help they had over top or inside — I’ve never seen anything like it until today. The bracket coverage in the red zone that we got, we got doubled a lot more today than I ever have before.”
On Wednesday, Minter shared more of the philosophy the maize and blue had in limiting Harrison, noting that a big part of the defensive game plan was to slow someone he considered to be one of the best wide receiver prospects in a generation.
“Quite a bit. I mean, he’s probably one of the best college receivers in the last 15-20 years, one of the best NFL draft prospects at that position in a long time,” Minter said. “Great skill set, ability to move around. So I think there’s a lot of answers you got to have because they can line him up in so many different spots. And then we certainly trust our guys as well. So there’s times where Will (Johnson) was on a one-on-one, there was times where Mikey was on a one-on-one. But we certainly wanted to really try to limit his ability to wreck the game.
“When I go back and watch, them and Penn State was kind of an evenly matched game, and he was the difference in the game for their offense. And while he still did some damage on us. There’s a couple plays we’d like to have back. To be able to somewhat keep a roof on him and keep him from really being able to wreck the game was certainly a big part of the game plan.”
While Harrison did get his, it was a successful strategy, not only by limiting him, but by confusing quarterback Kyle McCord. Michigan managed two interceptions in the game and both came when McCord was targeting his primary receiver. On the first, cornerback Will Johnson had inside leverage with safety help over the top. On the second, while McCord was hit by edge rusher Jaylen Harrell, either way, safety Rod Moore was in a position to make a play.