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Damien Harris’ mother was almost responsible for him not playing football. She’s also the person who ultimately gave him the push he needed in the sport. Talking to reporters Thursday while at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, the former Alabama back revealed a funny story about his mother, Lynn Harris, and what she has meant to him throughout his career.
“The first couple of games I hated playing football,” Harris told reporters, recalling his begging days in the sport. “I was in the first grade. I didn’t like the way the helmet fit on my head. I didn’t like getting dirty. I didn’t like getting hit. So, I just sat on the bench for like the first half of the season.
“And one day we were playing in a place ... it was snowing, freezing rain, freezing cold outside, and my mom came out of the bleachers and she started yelling at me. She was like, ‘I’m not just going to sit here and watch you drink up everybody else’s water. You’re either going to play or you’re going to go home.’ So, I was crying and was like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go home. All my friends are out here.’ So, I went in the game and ended up having the game-winning touchdown in that game. And ever since then, I fell in love with it.”
Harris has come a long way since then. Returning for his senior year last season, he led Alabama with 876 rushing yards to go with nine touchdowns on the ground. The do-it-all back also caught 22 receptions for 204 yards. Over his four-year career with the Crimson Tide, Harris ranks eighth on the schools all-time rushing list with 3,070 yards.
While he started the past three seasons, Harris received a limited workload at Alabama. Sharing time with fellow draft prospect Josh Jacobs as well as five-star Najee Harris, he recorded just 150 carries last season. Other top backs such as Florida Atlantic’s Devin Singletary (261 carries), Iowa State’s David Montgomery (257) and Memphis’ Darrell Henderson (214) all had more opportunities to fill up the stat sheet.
“I would just like the narrative to be that I’m fresh, that I’m healthy,” Harris said. “I made it through college with very few limitations, no real major injuries and I just had a healthy career. So, that’s kind of what I’m trying to tell teams.”
Harris is rated as the No. 5 back in this year’s class according to ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. He’ll have the opportunity to impress NFL scouts Friday when he takes part in drills with the rest of the running backs.
He said he has his mother to thank for that, too.
“From an early age, my mom always taught me that whatever you put your mind to you can do it,” Harris said. “Our living situation wasn’t always the best growing up, but my mom always found a way to provide for myself and others around me, so that’s just kind of been her lesson to me, no matter what.
Regardless of the circumstance, your opportunity is what you make it. So, just from all the lessons that I’ve learned from her — I could stand up here and talk about it all day. But she’s helped me be the person I am, and without her, I obviously would not be here today.”
