On the first day of the legal tampering period, the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly agreed to a deal with former Baltimore Ravens LB Malik Harrison. This came a year after the Steelers signed another former Ravens linebacker, Patrick Queen.
Harrison has a reputation as a special-teams ace, as evidenced by logging more than 1,500 special-teams snaps in his five-year career. But just who is Harrison?
Multi-Sport And Multi-Position Athlete In High School
Football players growing up with a multi-sport background has become a bigger trend in recent years. There have always been players who grew up playing multiple sports, but it’s become even more prevalent despite the push for increased specialization and year-round opportunities. Harrison is no different.
He played basketball and football, as well as ran track, at Walnut Ridge High School in Columbus, Ohio. He was a power forward on the basketball court, which makes all the sense in the world. During the 2014-15 season, he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds. And Harrison could dunk.
But on the football field? Harrison was all over the field on both sides of the ball. At points, he played quarterback, running back, and wide receiver on offense while logging time at linebacker and safety defensively. He made a big impact on both sides of the ball in his senior year. He threw for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for 897 yards and 15 touchdowns. Defensively, he had 40 tackles and five sacks. Not a bad way to end a high school career.
Oh, and he also spent some time at punter. A true triple threat.
Harrison was also a long jumper and high jumper for Walnut Ridge, as well as part of the 4×200 relay team that broke the school record during his time running track.
Survived 2021 Gun Shot Wound
During Baltimore’s bye week, Harrison was shot in the left calf while in Cleveland in late October 2021. According to WKYC that reported on the shooting, Harrison was at a restaurant when a fight broke out after 8 PM/EST. Spilling out into the street, police report approximately 20 gunshots were fired, one of which struck Harrison.
Fortunately, his injuries were non-life threatening and the Ravens provided official word the following afternoon.
According to Yahoo Sports, four people were arrested for their involvement.
Placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list, Harrison missed the next three games but returned to action on November 28. Primarily playing on special teams, he finished the year with thee more tackles, giving him 25 for the season.
Nearly As Many Tackles For A Loss As A Senior As Ryan Shazier In 2012
Harrison stayed in-state to play his college ball at Ohio State University, the same college that former Steelers LB Ryan Shazier played at. He had a phenomenal senior season, leading the team with 75 total tackles. 16.5 of those tackles were tackles for a loss. That number was the fifth-highest in Buckeyes history at the time. And it was only half a TFL behind the fourth spot held by Shazier in 2012. Shazier also holds the second-highest total at the time with 22.5 in 2013, which is only 0.5 off Andy Katzenmoyer’s 23 during the 1996 season. And Harrison also had 4.5 sacks as a senior.
Giving Back To His Hometown
According to Harrison’s Ravens player bio, he began running a youth football camp in his hometown of Columbus at his high school alma mater in 2021. That continued through 2024 during his time with the Ravens.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to give back to my community,” said Harrison during an interview at his first camp. “That’s the reason why I went to Ridge and did what I did, went to Ohio State, just stayed. I love the city. I bring so much support, their little events I’m always going to… This camp is really just to tell them it’s possible just to make it.”
Father-Son Bond
Harrison’s father was a big role model for him growing up. They had a tight relationship and it became part of the reason why he chose to stay in-state and attend Ohio State. He credits his father with helping prepare him to enter the NFL.
“He was my role model,” said Harrison during an interview with the Ravens YouTube channel back in 2020. “Me seeing him work, he’s got his own business here in Columbus. He has a lot of contracts around Columbus, so me seeing him write it down on a piece of paper to now, it just motivated me.”
At that moment, a third member entered the interview – Harrison’s dad, Charles. He was asked about his son’s words about being Malik’s role model.
“It means the world to me,” said Charles. “He’s the better me. So, like I said, it means the world.”
We often hear athletes talk about their parents and how they helped motivate and cheer them on. So it’s nice to see Malik’s father get to share a moment with him on camera. And Malik recognizes just how much his father poured into him.
“Everything that he taught me, everything that he put into me, made me into the man that I am now,” he said.
(BONUS) Chose Football On The Advice Of His Trainer (And Growing Buzz)
Evidently, Harrison was good on both the hardwood and the gridiron for Walnut Ridge. So how did he end up choosing football over basketball?
“It was about junior year,” said Harrison on Loungin’ With Howard on the Big Ten Network in 2019. “My trainer, I had a basketball trainer and a football trainer and they always worked together. My football trainer, he’d keep telling me Malik, stop playing with the hoops, go ahead and coming here, lift some weights. I would just brush it off, and then my junior year, that’s when I really started to get the buzz about me being a great player. After that, I just transitioned to being a football player.”
That buzz probably had something to do with colleges knocking on his door and talking to his football coach. It’s not every day that you can recruit a guy of his size who can play all over the field. Even if Harrison could throw down dunks, his future certainly appeared to be brighter on the football field.
And one of those colleges recruiting Harrison didn’t have very far to come to Walnut Ridge.
