Improved Monte Harrison set for second season with the Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE — Wide receiver Monte Harrison was one of the oldest freshmen in college football last fall and is now back for his sophomore year with the Razorbacks.

Harrison, 6-3, 230, became only the second player in NCAA history to record a statistic in an official FBS football game following his Major League Baseball career by catching two passes for 29 yards during his collegiate debut vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Aug. 29).

When Harrison came out of Lee’s Summit (Mo.) West in the Class of 2014 he was a four-star prospect who signed with Nebraska. However, Harrison was selected in the 2nd round (50th overall) of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2014 by the Milwaukee Brewers. He played professionally for 10 seasons, reaching the major leagues with the Miami Marlins (2020-21) and Los Angeles Angels (2022) playing in 50 games total.

However Harrison opted to leave baseball and chose the Razorbacks. Bobby Petrino, who is his offensive coordinator at Arkansas, talked about Harrison recently.

“Monte is still that big body that can get open and catch the ball in traffic,” Petrino said. “He still gets tired sometimes. He’s got to get a little bit … We need to make a decision whether we’re going to have him drop some weight, but he’s got to get in better shape. Because sometimes he gets tired and doesn’t go like he can.”

Petrino went into more detail on how Arkansas might come up with a decision on Harrison.

“Yeah, how these next two weeks go,” Petrino said. “I felt like he’s made some really good strides, and I don’t want to… God gave him a big body, and he’s physical, and he knows how to use it. If he’s a little bit quicker twitch on a few things, on his releases and getting out of his break, does that make him that much better or does that hinder him because now we’re taking away one thing that’s different in him, his size. You always like those outliers that are a little bit different than anybody else, and his outlier is that he’s big and physical. So, it’s a decision we’re going to have to make after spring ball. I’ve talked to him about it before, and he’s talked to me about it. We’re like, ‘Okay, which way should we go?’ The decision was, ‘Let’s go through spring ball and see what your positives are, what your negatives are and then make a decision after that.’”

Left guard Fernando Carmona is sold on Harrison. Prior to Thursday’s practice, Carmona heaped some praise on Harrison.

“He’s a baller,” Carmona said. “He’s definitely learning what it takes. Because like you said, being a baseball player, it’s a completely different game. And just having to build that physicality into himself and what it takes to play in the SEC. He learned that last year, so this year he’s just kind of came in, and he’s been a great leader for that wide receiver room. And he’s stepped up his game, and he’s been playing great ball.”

Gone from last year are such big wide receivers as Andrew Armstrong, Isaac TeSlaa and Tyrone Broden. Can Harrison maybe help fill that role of bigger wide out?

“Most definitely, yeah,” Carmona said. “He has that dad bod to him. He has that great size and frame to him. So yeah, he could definitely be that bigger receiver for us and show up on Saturdays. He’s been playing his tail off, and like I said I think he kind of realized what it takes to play SEC football, and his attention to detail has definitely gotten to the point that he’s ready to play, make big plays.”

Harrison also has caught the attention of Sam Pittman including at Saturday’s scrimmage when the sophomore caught three passes for 37 yards.

“Made some plays, made some one-handed catches, made some one-on-one contested balls, 50/50, balls,” Pittman said. “Just his consistency, if he becomes more consistent with urgency and route running and all that, I think he could move up even higher than that, which I think he will. Obviously, imagine you going and playing baseball for a long period of time and then coming back to football, it’s just different. But I’m very proud of him. He’s made plays. I think he’ll make more as soon as he understands everything a little bit better.”

In high school, Harrison played football, basketball and baseball. He committed to Nebraska to play baseball and football. Four-star football prospect according to 247Sports and the No. 7 athlete in Missouri and No. 52 wide receiver nationally. He chose Nebraska over: Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. As a senior, scored 25 touchdowns and gained 1,205 total yards before hitting .433 with a 1.245 OPS during the spring.

Harrison and the Razorbacks will play the spring game at 1 p.m. Saturday. The team will be available to sign autographs afterward.