FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — 29-year-old Monte Harrison is a freshman wide receiver at the University of Arkansas. He also played professional baseball for over 10 years and reached the major leagues.
A 29-year-old freshman may sound odd, but Harrison never went to college, meaning he has full NCAA eligibility to play sports for up to four seasons.
Harrison was drafted out of high school in 2014 by the Milwaukee Brewers 50th overall. He had a verbal commitment to Nebraska to play football and baseball, but the Brewers offered him a $1.8 million contract offer that he signed instead of fulfilling his commitment to the Cornhuskers.
Harrison's best season came in 2017 in the minor leagues with the Brewers, where he hit for a .272 batting average and hit 21 home runs. The success he had this season made him a key piece in the Christian Yelich trade that sent Harrison and three other prospects to the Marlins in exchange for Yelich.
Harrison made his MLB debut with the Marlins in 2020 and played in 41 games for the team between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In 2022, he appeared in nine games for the Angels, only getting 11 at-bats in that time. Harrison hit for a career average of .176 and an OPS of .547 in his three major league seasons.
Following his time with the Angels in 2022, Harrison reunited with the Brewers, the team that drafted him, signing a minor-league contract with the club in Jan. 2023. Later that year, Milwaukee released Harrison from their AAA affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, on Sep. 24. This would mark the end of Harrison's professional baseball career.
In June of 2024, Harrison officially enrolled at the University of Arkansas with the intention of walking on the football team as a receiver. Fast-forward to Aug. 29 and Harrison has just played in his first collegiate football game for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks opened the season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, shutting them out 70-0. Harrison got his first taste of football since high school, catching two passes for 29 yards in the win.
Even though his baseball career did not pan out as he hoped, Harrison is still an impressive 6’3″ and 220 pounds. An eventual NFL appearance is a long shot, but Harrison has all the makings of a good football player and his journey at Arkansas will be a fun story for fans to follow as he works to keep his professional sports dreams alive.
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