Anton Harrison: 5 things to know about Oklahoma's 2023 NFL draft first-round prospect OT

Bengals director of personnel Duke Tobin has said Cincinnati will take the best player available when the 2023 NFL draft starts Thursday night.

A three-round mock draft from The Enquirer's Kelsey Conway has the Bengals selecting Mississippi State cornerback Emmanuel Forbes with the 28th overall pick.

In his mock draft, NFL.com's Bucky Brooks expects the Bengals to take Oklahoma offensive tackle Anton Harrison.

What to know about Harrison:

If drafted by Cincinnati, Harrison would join three other former Oklahoma standouts on the Bengals' roster.

Orlando Brown Jr., who became the Bengals' starting left tackle last month and threw out the first pitch before Tuesday's Rangers-Reds game, is a former Sooner, as are fellow offensive tackle Cody Ford and running back Joe Mixon.

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Harrison's athleticism impressed at the NFL Combine.

It's rare for an offensive lineman to run a sub-5 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Harrison ran the 40 in 4.98 seconds, and posted a vertical jump of 28.5 inches and a broad jump of 8 feet, 9 inches.

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein wrote that Harrison has "good size and length, but average athletic traits."

Harrison also performed well at OU's Pro Day.

Harrison pumped 24 reps on the bench press and ran a 4.93 20-yard shuttle at the school's Pro Day. ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Harrison fourth among draft-eligible offensive tackles.

Harrison's OU stats impress as well.

Harrison played 1,002 total pass blocking snaps over his career at Oklahoma, and allowed just four sacks and 33 pressures. He earned first-team All-Big 12 honors as a junior before declaring for the draft and moving to California to work out with Proactive Sports Performance’s Joe Panos, per OUDaily.com's Jason Batacao.

Proactive also worked with Cincinnati Bearcats draft prospect Josh Whyle, a former standout tight end at La Salle High School, and Notre Dame's Michael Mayer, a former standout tight end at Covington Catholic High School.

Harrison played mostly left tackle at OU.

Harrison played all nine of his games as a freshman and all 12 of his starts as a sophomore at left tackle, and played 11 of his 12 games last season at LT. He did start the season-opener against UTEP at right tackle.

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