Photo: Marvin Harrison Jr. to Wear No. 18 Jersey with Cardinals, Keeps OSU Number

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVMay 8, 2024

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Marvin Harrison Jr. appeared to indicate on social media Tuesday that he’ll be wearing the No. 18 with the Arizona Cardinals.

Darren Urban @CardschatterLooks like Marvin, via IG, has announced that he’s gotten his number. pic.twitter.com/sKP8IaH063

It doesn’t come as a major surprise—Harrison wore the number at Ohio State, though outside linebacker BJ Ojulari wore that number last season for the Cards. It remains to be seen if the two men worked out a deal for the number swap, given that Ojulari wore No. 18 during his college days at LSU and it held a special significance for him.

At LSU, the No. 18 is given to the player who best exemplifies the football program. Ojulari was the 18th player at LSU to be given the the No. 18 jersey.

“It’s a big deal for me just with 18 being so big at LSU,” he told reporters last year after being drafted. “I’m just so thankful to the organization for letting me wear 18 coming into the next level. I’m definitely going to represent it very well. Represent the state of Louisiana, Georgia and now the state Arizona.”

All of that to say, it was perhaps no small deal for Ojulari to give up the No. 18.

As for Harrison, he didn’t seem particularly worried about what number he would wear in Arizona when asked about it on draft night.

“I don’t know,” he told reporters at the time. “I don’t know what the number situation would be. We’ll figure it out once I get there. I’ll talk with the equipment guys and the coaches, and we’ll go from there.”

Expectations are high for the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft, who is expected to be Kyler Murray’s top target from the jump. That isn’t his initial focus, however.

“I’m just trying to learn the playbook, get my connection down with Kyler and whatever happens from there, happens,” he told ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss after the draft. “That’s definitely not my thought. Just go in there and work as hard as I can, and we’ll see how it goes from there.”

And he’ll do it wearing No. 18.