Oregon Ducks' Marcus Harper Details Chicago Bears Meeting Before NFL Draft

Are there any NFL teams you've talked to? If so, who?

"There's been a couple teams that have been in the ball park," Harper said. "The Bears. I know I've got to go to the Bears' local pro day around April 8 and deal with that out there in Chicago. So, that will be good, you know, bring the hometown kid back to the crib. I know a lot more teams will be in contact after they see me dominate Pro Day on Tuesday."

"I want the situation I got to to be the best thing for both the team and myself too so if that's Chicago, I'm all about it. I'm all for going back to the hometown and getting some of that deep dish pizza back in my system," Harper said.

Are there any current of past athletes you model your game after?

"Tre Turner, when he was on the Panthers some years back. I would say Chris Lindstrom is a guy I continue to look at a lot more. Aaron Brewer, if I do have to put my hand on a ball he would be a guy that I would say I would take a look at. Joe Thuney, Marshal Yanda even just doing some deep digging and stuff like that," Harper said.

It's unsual for an athlete to stay their entire college career at one place. Why did you stay all five years at Oregon?

"Honestly, it was the family appeal," Harper said. "They had something no other school could really offer. Football is football. X's and O's are X's and O's. It's what its going to be. There's something different about this family atmosphere out here in Oregon. Especially with the new coaching change, when (Dan Lanning) came up here, the football side, the SEC type feel he brought to Oregon, it made it kind of a non-negotiable. It was like you don't have to go anywhere because it was the best of both worlds."

"The cherry on top was when we got the invite to the Big Ten my last year. So it was like, you literally don't have to go anywhere else because you get the best of everything right here," Harper said.

What is something you've learned from each offensive line coach you've had at Oregon (Alex Mirabal, Adrian Klemm, A'lique Terry) that you keep with you through this draft process?

"I would say Klemm for sure [would be] go out and play my game. He was an NFL coach and he didn't overcoach himself. He kind of just did whatever he wanted to do," Harper said. "He was just like 'whatever you're confident in, just go do that.'"

"Mirabal, he gave me a great foundation to understand football schematically. So, it didn't matter what I named the play and things like that, he helped me understand football basics 101. So if you want to change the play from yellow to green to fuchsia to violet, I would be able to understand the schematics of the play through and through," Harper said.

"Terry, understanding a deeper dive because he did coach on the defensive side when he got to the NFL. Understanding defensive schematics and how defenses work in unison and how everyone has a gap and every gap needs a person," Harper said.

What do you hope to show at Oregon's Pro Day?

"Honestly, continue to show my dominance and athleticism. I know I got banged up towards the back end of the season so I know that might raise a question or things like that too. Just reiterate I know what I am. Every time I've had an injury, I always return back at one-hundred percent full strength whether it was a triceps in the off season of 2023 or the MCL thing I had towards the back end of this season. It don't matter. One knee, one leg, I'm going to dominate," Harper said.

"Three years no sacks and then you add on top of that the explosion and this full healthy Marcus and like, why wouldn't you take me? I played at the highest of levels and I played against some of the premiere interior defensive linemen and dominated against them. So just go out there on Tuesday and showcase that like look, my name wasn't one of the higher names that was popped around right now but you know what you're going to get when you see Marcus Harper II in the flesh," Harper said.

What's your physicality look like right now over your draft training?

"I mean I even put on a little bit more mass to show that like, even if you needed me to play at 310lbs I can still dominate in the fashion that I know I want to dominate in at that weight. Understanding what I was coming back to for my fifth year I was durable for the long haul because I knew we were going to something new and different and I didn't want to be like everyone else," Harper said.

"I knew everyone else was going to be at the same ballpark at 315 but I knew if I added a different twist at 306-307 pounds, company bit why, going against some of these premiere defensive linemen in the Big Ten where it's known for the trenches, they weren't going to get adjusted [to my speed]. They weren't going to know how to operate against someone that's 307. You think you can play the bully ball card and go against me but I'm very strong at 306-307," Harper said.