The Trench Warfare 2023 NFL Draft Film Room - Episode 5 featuring Oklahoma LT Anton Harrison

Photo via Tyler Wise

Welcome everyone to the fifth edition of the 2023 NFL Draft film room series where I sit down with OL prospects in the upcoming draft class. The intent is to shine a light on each player’s story and skill-set while watching their college film together. The focus will be on the best competition they faced to best assess the strengths of their game and what they can rely on during their pro careers. 

We will discuss technique, scheme, dive into opponents and take you inside their preparation leading up to the game and how they processed information in real time. During our talks, players often share unique anecdotes and stories from the game and their careers that you can only find here on Trench Warfare.

So far for the 2023 draft class I have had on Tennessee RT Darnell Wright, Northwestern LT Peter Skoronski, Florida RG O’Cyrus Torrence and TCU LG Steve Avila. Next up is Oklahoma LT Anton Harrison.

Oklahoma LT Anton Harrison

Anton Harrison arrived at Oklahoma as a heavily recruited 4-star before appearing in nine games as a true freshman in 2020 then starting the last two seasons at tackle (24 starts with 23 at LT and one at RT). Harrison declared early for the draft and will be one of the youngest prospects in the class having turned 21-years old on February 2 of this year. This is a significant part of his allure as a prospect since he already has starting-level play strength and power with room to continue developing physically and a long runway to improve an already impressive skill-set.

I sat down with Harrison for about an hour discussing his time at Oklahoma under renowned line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, gaining insight into some of the traits that make the Sooners offensive line such a physically imposing, consistent unit and how those carry over year after year as new players enter the mix. We followed that up with a deep dive into a handful of 2022 games covering a wide-range of topics. This was an enjoyable and fun discussion with a lot of nuance mixed in that I think fans, players, coaches and analysts will be able to use as a way to get to know Harrison better as a player while watching high-quality line play from one of the best offensive lineman in the draft. Expect Harrison’s name to generate a lot more buzz after the combine is over when the media and teams get a closer look at his traits and overall profile as a prospect.

*My scouting report on Harrison is here.

Specific topics covered during the film room:

• The constant focus on finishing blocks stemming from Oklahoma OL coach Bill Bedenbaugh and how that translates to the field

• Taking the first-level defender where he wants to go on the frontside of counter

• How high-level play strength and anchoring ability breeds patience and confidence as a pass-protector

• Using a ‘bail’ set to protect the edge against a wide-9 technique

  • Video example

• Widening and expanding the corner by keeping rushers at your fingertips and off of your frame to ‘push them up the hoop’

• Anticipating where defenders want to disengage and preemptively adjusting your positioning to clean up the read for the runner

• Creating immediate torque to uproot and displace the frontside defensive end on outside zone

  • Video example

• Breaking down Harrison’s 2022 matchup against Big 12 defensive player of the year Felix Anudike-Uzomah

  • Focusing on Harrison’s approach against Anudike-Uzomah and his tendency to lean on the ‘long-arm’ technique by combatting that with a ‘snatch-trap’ technique

    • Video example

• Making a call pre-snap on a tight end double-team letting the TE know he is free to release because Harrison has the DE himself

  • Video example

• Taking a deep dive into Harrison’s skill-set and affinity for blocking in space on pin-pull, screens and climbing off of combo blocks

• Highlighting and discussing an epic dual pancake play from Harrison and RT Wanya Morris

• Using independent hands, staying light on your hands in pass-protection and executing the bait or flash technique to disrupt the opponent’s pass-rush plan

• Breaking down Harrison’s favorite pancake from the 2022 season

• Areas Harrison is expecting to perform at the highest level at the Combine, including a specific test he plans on surprising people at

Miss prior NFL Draft player film rooms?

Cole Strange

Bernhard Raimann

Zion Johnson

Trevor Penning

Ikem Ekwonu

Creed Humphrey

Landon Dickerson

Teven Jenkins

Full Anton Harrison Film Room: