[citation needed] He went to Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois and was a three-sport varsity letter winner in wrestling (185 pound weight class and heavyweight), track (400 m relay and mile relay) and football (defensive lineman) and in 2009 his high school football number was officially retired at a ceremony during the halftime of a McDonald's charitable basketball game being played by other former and current NFL players.
Harrison earned his accelerated financial planning certificate from the Arizona State University School of Global Management and Leadership in 2009.
[citation needed] Nolan earned his Masters of Business Administration with an emphasis in global management from University of Phoenix in January 2012.
His talk was titled, "Childhood Dreams of Heroes, My Long and Winding Road" on YouTube and he discussed how his core values and views on heroism shaped his experiences from childhood, through college, to adulthood, enabling him to take a stand where some might not have to stop a sexual assault against a female student on campus.
Harrison has been a public speaker for many organizations like the NFL Players Association, Executives Breakfast Club, AFT, AFL-CIO, and TEDx speaking on a variety of leadership topics.