This 86 Second Video of Harold Fannin Jr. Breaking Tackles (In The NFL) Is Straight Up MAC Porn

Not too bad for a 0-star recruit with one offer coming out of high school.

I really can't express how much Harold Fannin Jr. succeeding in the NFL means to me. I moved to Bowling Green, Ohio when I was young. Spent my whole life going to Bowling Green Falcon football games. Saw so many great players (at least by BGSU standards) who I could thought make "some noise" in the NFL. And a few have. As a kid, our biggest claim to fame was kicker Shaun Suisham. We had a center named Kory Lichtensteiger who had a long career. Karl Brooks is a very solid DT for the Packers right now. But unlike most MAC teams who at least have one player they can point to. Someone on the level of Antonio Gates & Julian Edelman (Kent State), Ben Rothlisberger (Miami OH), J.J. Watt & Antonio Brown (Central Michigan), etc. But in my lifetime, Bowling Green has never had a consistent playmaker who's had a chance to be a top 5 player in the league at his position. 

Until Harold Fannin Jr. Who's obviously not there yet. But he's at leas got a shot. He's immediately become one of the more fun players to watch in the league. He runs awkward as hell. He kind of looks like he's moving in quicksand, but is somehow still fast enough to get separation. And the way he moves his feet through breaking tackles is so aesthetically pleasing to watch. He refuses to go down.

I don't understand broken tackle stats at all, by the way. Apparently, according to Pro Football Reference, Harold Fannin Jr. is tied for the lead with Tucker Kraft and Trey McBride among TE's with a grand total of 6. I count that many 20 second into that 86 second video. Tucker Kraft MUST have had more than 6 broken tackles vs the Pittsburgh Steelers alone.

Anyways, it's one thing to do that in the MAC. But do be able to do it in the NFL (at 21 years old) is phenomenal. I can't imagine how awesome the feeling is for a player when he realizes he belongs in the NFL. I'm sure Fannin heard all the noise in college. That he was only able to do what he did, which was set damn near every single-season tight end record in college football, because he played in the MAC. 

I'm sure he wondered to himself sometimes, "Will I be able to do the same thing in the pros? Will I still be able to run through defenses? Will it still take half of the defense to tackle me?"

Then for him to throw his weight around like this in his first game.

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To drag the whole Packers defense 10 yards downfield in Week 3.

And after a lifetime of dreaming of playing in the National Football League, to come to the realization that, "Holy shit. They still can't tackle me. I can really fucking do this."

That's gotta be the best feeling in the world. It's one thing to achieve your dream of cracking an NFL roster. But in the moment it becomes clear you're still good vs the best players in the world, you must feel like Superman. Players always talk about their "Welcome to the NFL" moment. But I'd imagine having a "Wow… the NFL really isn't that hard" moment is way cooler.  

Please get your shit together Browns. I love that Harold Fannin is playing for an NFL franchise just an hour away from where he grew up (Canton, OH… probably not a coincidence). But I need to see Harold Fannin play meaningful football in his prime. The Browns have some good things going though. For being as dismal as they've been this season, they have a hell of a rookie class on their hands.

Wide Receiver Isaiah Bond has looked promising at times as well. If they can figure out the QB position, which I know is a pretty insane "if" for the Cleveland Browns, but a really nice core of players at key positions on both sides of the ball. That's a group you can build around.