The Players’ Corner

The spotlight has been on Zach Harrison since he was a teenager, even having reporters following him to his car at high school camps. But regardless of being a 16-year-old with national attention and being named captain for Ohio State football, Zach didn’t change. He still felt like a normal high schooler walking down the halls and still was “the same person I was 30 minutes ago before he said I was a captain, and I was gonna be the same person if he didn’t say I was a captain.”

Zach’s path to Ohio State football star and now Atlanta Falcon encapsulates more than being just a talented athlete. He’s a guy who didn’t lose himself in the spotlight, relentlessly works to improve, and has ambitions exceeding the gridiron.

This is how Zach Harrison continues to excel on the biggest stages.

Navigating Recruitment as a 5-Star

The attention most 16-year-old athletes get is the occasional social media post or some friends hyping them up. This was far from the case for Zach.

He recalled, “I remember one time there were like 7 reporters following me and my mom to my car after an Ohio State camp, trying to get me to answer questions because I left without answering any questions. So that was what I didn’t really understand – why it’s such a big deal, like I’m just a high schooler.”

But even with this attention, Zach still “felt like the same kid I was my entire life there, so that kind of helped that nobody really made it seem like I was a big deal every day. Because I didn’t feel like one. I just kind of felt like a normal high schooler.”

When it came to the logistics side of recruiting and meeting with coaches, he may not have loved it, but he understood the need for it. However, he still found some difficulties with the process.

One of the difficulties was reading the coaches, “It’s really hard to tell who’s genuine, that’s probably the hardest part. I remember telling my mom it’s like everybody is saying how much they want you and they need you. When I knew they weren’t just telling me that. I knew for the most part they were telling every kid that walked in the hallways that.”

Zach emphasized that it was different with Larry Johnson, Ryan Day, and the Buckeyes, “One of the reasons I went to Ohio State is because I really did feel like Coach Johnson [was genuine] . . . he told me, ‘I’m not recruiting anybody else. If we don’t get you, then we’re just not gonna have a defensive end in this class.’ And he meant it. I remember I came in with Noah Potter as well, but that’s what he told me, and that was genuine.”

Zach shared some future advice for recruits: “They might oversell something or undersell something, and just make sure you have a good support system behind you. Make sure you write down what’s important to you, and if it’s not that, then don’t worry about it.”

Becoming a Home-Grown Buckeye

There aren’t many pairings more seamless than a kid from Columbus, Ohio, playing for the Buckeyes. But Zach expressed that the transition to playing at Ohio State posed some challenges.

He admitted, “Freshman year in college is really rough because you go from being the best player – some guys go from being the best player their high school has ever seen – to being just another guy.”

He added, “In high school you’re a big fish in a small pond . . . you’re like a shark in a pool full of guppies, like you can look at a high school team and instantly identify who’s gonna go to the next level just because they’re bigger, stronger, faster . . . You go from that to going somewhere where you’re like not only am I the weakest person here in my room, I’m the slowest, and one of the least athletic. Everybody here is freaks now, everybody here is genetically gifted.”

Zach said the difference was immediately noticeable, “I remember my first walk-through at Ohio State, I was like, ‘This is like high school games. This is just a walk/jog-through? This feels like game speed.’ And then you adjust to that overtime.”

His first walk-through wasn’t his only time seeing the clear difference between high school and Ohio State. He shared, “I remember my first time going against the 1s at practice because I was doing good against the 2s, the 3s. Then, my coach moved me to the 1s and I was like, ‘Oh woah, this is different. Why is everybody so strong?’”

Even his first play in a game at Ohio State felt different, “Coach Johnson was like, ‘you’re going to get your first snap and you’re going to be gassed afterwards. You’re going to play one play and be so tired because your adrenaline is going to be pumping’ . . . And that was true.” He continued, “ It was versus FAU, my first play looked terrible. Looking back on it, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.’”

But eventually Zach did adjust. He even earned his way to becoming a captain for his junior season. But this title didn’t alter his approach, “You can’t change. Because guys notice that. If you get voted a captain, then you start doing things that aren’t you and start being not yourself, guys will notice and be like, ‘Oh, he let the title get to his head. He’s no longer a guy I want to follow.’”

Zach earned his way into the captain position, so why change what got him there? And what got him there was his mindset and his work ethic. He explained that the switch flipped before his junior year when he realized he didn’t have much time left in college:

“That kind of clicked in my mind. I’m like, ‘Okay, let me do all the little things right. Let me do all the little things that the coaches have been saying for years that some people kind of skip over. Not saying I didn’t do them before, but like intentionally do them. I wanted to make sure I left everything at Ohio State so I didn’t regret anything in the league, which I feel like I did. You know, just leave no stone unturned. That was kind of my mindset going into my last couple of years at Ohio State.”

This is the mindset that led to being named a team captain, being selected twice for all Big-Ten Conference honors, and eventually getting drafted 75th overall to the Atlanta Falcons.

The Mental Adjustment to the NFL

“In the league, it’s different because now I’m playing against guys with kids, wives, and families . . . They’re not bigger, stronger, faster. It’s just like they’re playing to feed their family. It’s a different kind of intensity,” Zach said about his adjustment to the NFL.

He added, “College to the NFL, it’s like you leave college and you’re like, ‘I’m good enough to play here.’ Everybody in the NFL is good enough to play in the NFL.  It’s just getting adjusted to the intensity of the game. It’s not necessarily faster . . . just every play is more intense because every play means more in the NFL.”

Zach expressed that his first NFL game also brought some nerves, “You get in your first game in the NFL and you’re kind of wide-eyed. You’re like, ‘I’m actually in an NFL game.’ But as the season went on, Zach settled in.

In Zach’s 2023-24 rookie season, he wrapped up with 3 sacks and 11 tackles in his final 3 games. What led to this was, “Over the course of the season, you realize yes, everybody in the NFL is good, but you’re in the NFL too. So you’re just as good as they are, you just have to go play football. It’s the same game you’ve been playing since you were 12. Just go do that. Go as hard as you can. Try not to make mistakes, run the plays, and good things will happen.” He continued:

“The NFL is all confidence. . . Everyone is good, you just have to have that belief that I’m better than everybody. Once you have that, you’ll play like that. Whether you’re right or you’re wrong. Whether you’re better than everybody or you’re not, having that mindset will allow you to play better . . . Once you lose your confidence, it’s hard to get it back. In the NFL you’re gonna get got. They’re professionals too . . . There’s going to be plays where you make plays, there’s going to be plays where you don’t. And if you don’t have the confidence to bounce back after those bad plays, and be like, ‘Oh, it’s just football. It happens, move on. Play harder, get them back next time,’ then that’s where your confidence could take a hit. And that’s when the mistakes start piling, and that’s when guys get labeled busts cuz they have years of just their confidence being torn down.”

Zach explained he’s learned to cut out the negative outside voices and focus on the supporters, “You have more supporters than you do people that don’t like you . . . Like I walk off the field, and I’ve got kids begging me to sign their autograph, asking for my sweaty headband and my gloves.”

It’s not just kids wanting his sweaty gear that Zach has in his corner, as Zach’s family is there for him no matter how he plays. Zach said his family isn’t big football fans, and it’s an absolute blessing for him.

He expressed, “That aspect of them not caring about football at all has helped me so much. Because I stress over it. I allow myself to do that. I don’t have to come home and my dad is talking about the plays I made. . . It took them a couple of years to figure out when to cheer. . . I could stop playing today, and my family wouldn’t care. The drive for football comes from me and not them, and I think that’s been super helpful for me throughout my career. . . It’s not the game of football they want me to succeed in. They just want me to succeed in life.”

Zach emphasized the importance of taking your mind off football sometimes, “My coach my rookie year during camp said, ‘Go home, go shower, go back to the dorms, and take an hour and just get away. Don’t watch film, don’t study plays, just get away. ’”

He added, “The pressure to perform, especially the level I’m at now, can consume people. . . And you won’t be able to play freely or think freely, you’ll be so uptight about it.” For him, Zach said watching anime and traveling have been helpful getaways from football.

Performing well in the NFL isn’t just about physical ability. As Zach emphasized, the mental game and confidence are vital.

Post-Career Real Estate Ambitions

“Eventually, I really want to do a lot here in Columbus. This is where I want to dig my feet in and eventually develop neighborhoods down the road, maybe an apartment building. . . Just be able from the ground up to see a bunch of land and see eventually it’s a whole neighborhood that I’ve contributed to building or that I built an apartment on this plot of land that wasn’t there before,” Zach shared about his off-the-field aspirations.

Real estate gives him a similar feeling to his experience on the football field, “The more I’ve learned about it, the more interested I’ve become over time. It’s not mundane. Every day is different in the real estate world. It scratches that itch that football provides.”

But for now, Zach still has a football career he’s focused on, “I can do real estate for the rest of my life. While I’m playing football, that’s that. I gotta lock in on thought, and that’s my main thing, but afterwards, I now have a path and something that I want to do after football.”

From navigating the heights of recruitment to battling in the trenches of the NFL, Zach has consistently proven that what defines an athlete isn’t just their stat line. It’s in the unseen grind, the commitment to authenticity, and an unyielding confidence that true success is formed. Whether he’s chasing quarterbacks or developing properties, one thing is clear: Zach Harrison has and will continue to excel on his journey.