5 Issues To Know About New Steelers LB Malik Harrison

On the primary day of the authorized tampering interval, the Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly agreed to a deal with former Baltimore Ravens LB Malik Harrison. This got here a 12 months after the Steelers signed one other former Ravens linebacker, Patrick Queen.

Harrison has a status as a special-teams ace, as evidenced by logging greater than 1,500 special-teams snaps in his five-year profession. However simply who’s Harrison?

Multi-Sport And Multi-Place Athlete In Excessive Faculty

Soccer gamers rising up with a multi-sport background has grow to be an even bigger development in recent times. There have all the time been gamers who grew up taking part in a number of sports activities, however it’s grow to be much more prevalent regardless of the push for elevated specialization and year-round alternatives. Harrison isn’t any totally different.

He performed basketball and soccer, in addition to ran observe, at Walnut Ridge Excessive Faculty in Columbus, Ohio. He was an influence ahead on the basketball court docket, which makes all of the sense on the planet. In the course of the 2014-15 season, he averaged 14 factors and 10 rebounds. And Harrison might dunk.

However on the soccer discipline? Harrison was all around the discipline on either side of the ball. At factors, he performed quarterback, operating again, and large receiver on offense whereas logging time at linebacker and security defensively. He made a big effect on either side of the ball in his senior 12 months. He threw for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns whereas speeding for 897 yards and 15 touchdowns. Defensively, he had 40 tackles and 5 sacks. Not a foul approach to finish a highschool profession.

Oh, and he additionally spent a while at punter. A real triple risk.

Harrison was additionally a protracted jumper and excessive jumper for Walnut Ridge, in addition to a part of the 4×200 relay group that broke the varsity document throughout his time operating observe.

Survived 2021 Gun Shot Wound

Throughout Baltimore’s bye week, Harrison was shot within the left calf whereas in Cleveland in late October 2021. In response to WKYC that reported on the taking pictures, Harrison was at a restaurant when a struggle broke out after 8 PM/EST. Spilling out into the road, police report roughly 20 gunshots have been fired, considered one of which struck Harrison.

Thankfully, his accidents have been non-life threatening and the Ravens offered official phrase the next afternoon.

In response to Yahoo Sports activities, 4 folks have been arrested for his or her involvement.

Positioned on the Reserve/Non-Soccer Damage record, Harrison missed the following three video games however returned to motion on November 28. Primarily taking part in on particular groups, he completed the 12 months with thee extra tackles, giving him 25 for the season.

Almost As Many Tackles For A Loss As A Senior As Ryan Shazier In 2012

Harrison stayed in-state to play his faculty ball at Ohio State College, the identical faculty that former Steelers LB Ryan Shazier performed at. He had an exceptional senior season, main the group with 75 complete tackles. 16.5 of these tackles have been tackles for a loss. That quantity was the fifth-highest in Buckeyes historical past on the time. And it was solely half a TFL behind the fourth spot held by Shazier in 2012. Shazier additionally holds the second-highest complete on the time with 22.5 in 2013, which is barely 0.5 off Andy Katzenmoyer’s 23 in the course of the 1996 season. And Harrison additionally had 4.5 sacks as a senior.

Giving Again To His Hometown

In response to Harrison’s Ravens participant bio, he started operating a youth soccer camp in his hometown of Columbus at his highschool alma mater in 2021. That continued via 2024 throughout his time with the Ravens.

“It’s all the time been a dream of mine to offer again to my neighborhood,” mentioned Harrison throughout an interview at his first camp. “That’s the explanation why I went to Ridge and did what I did, went to Ohio State, simply stayed. I like the town. I carry a lot help, their little occasions I’m all the time going to… This camp is absolutely simply to inform them it’s attainable simply to make it.”

Father-Son Bond

Harrison’s father was a giant position mannequin for him rising up. That they had a good relationship and it grew to become a part of the explanation why he selected to remain in-state and attend Ohio State. He credit his father with serving to put together him to enter the NFL.

“He was my position mannequin,” mentioned Harrison throughout an interview with the Ravens YouTube channel again in 2020. “Me seeing him work, he’s received his personal enterprise right here in Columbus. He has a number of contracts round Columbus, so me seeing him write it down on a bit of paper to now, it simply motivated me.”

At that second, a 3rd member entered the interview – Harrison’s dad, Charles. He was requested about his son’s phrases about being Malik’s position mannequin.

“It means the world to me,” mentioned Charles. “He’s the higher me. So, like I mentioned, it means the world.”

We frequently hear athletes speak about their dad and mom and the way they helped inspire and cheer them on. So it’s good to see Malik’s father get to share a second with him on digicam. And Malik acknowledges simply how a lot his father poured into him.

“The whole lot that he taught me, the whole lot that he put into me, made me into the person that I’m now,” he mentioned.

(BONUS) Selected Soccer On The Recommendation Of His Coach (And Rising Buzz)

Evidently, Harrison was good on each the hardwood and the gridiron for Walnut Ridge. So how did he find yourself selecting soccer over basketball?

“It was about junior 12 months,” mentioned Harrison on Loungin’ With Howard on the Massive Ten Community in 2019. “My coach, I had a basketball coach and a soccer coach and so they all the time labored collectively. My soccer coach, he’d maintain telling me Malik, cease taking part in with the hoops, go forward and coming right here, elevate some weights. I’d simply brush it off, after which my junior 12 months, that’s once I actually began to get the excitement about me being a terrific participant. After that, I simply transitioned to being a soccer participant.”

That buzz in all probability had one thing to do with schools knocking on his door and speaking to his soccer coach. It’s not daily you can recruit a man of his measurement who can play all around the discipline. Even when Harrison might throw down dunks, his future actually gave the impression to be brighter on the soccer discipline.

And a type of schools recruiting Harrison didn’t have very far to return to Walnut Ridge.