From 'weak' to freak: How Najee Harris became one of the nation's top backs
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — More than 2,000 miles away from his former protégé, Marcus Malu has a message for Alabama freshman running back Najee Harris.
“He’s still weak,” Malu, Harris' former trainer, says with a laugh. “We still tell him that to this day.”
He’s kidding, of course.
One look at the 6-foot-2, 227-pound back and it’s clear there’s nothing weak about him. Although, that kind of good-natured ribbing must be comforting to Harris. Lost in a sea of hype and praise from people who hardly know him, the soft-spoken freshman has been dealing with the weight that comes with being the nation’s No. 1 overall player for quite some time now.
Harris enrolled at Alabama in January, ending a recruiting saga that stole headlines days before the Crimson Tide’s national championship appearance against Clemson. Pictures of the five-star early enrollee hurdling teammates during scrimmages this spring only amplified the intrigue surrounding him. That spotlight doesn’t seem to be dimming anytime soon as Harris took another step in his promising career last week, leading all Alabama backs with 70 rushing yards on 13 carries against Fresno State.
Those who know Harris best will tell you none of that matters to the humble back. The Antioch, Calif., native still remembers where he came from and the many roads and people who brought him where he is today.
“I just want to be the best”
Harris wasn’t even the headliner for his own coming out party. After being called up to varsity at Antioch High School midway through his freshman year, the budding star’s first moment on the big stage came in front of a sizable crowd in a game against rival Freedom High School.
The only problem, people weren’t there to watch him play. That role was reserved for Freedom back Joe Mixon, who is now playing for the Cincinnati Bengals.
By the end of the night, it didn’t matter. Then still primarily a defensive player, Harris showed out in the game, forcing a fumble from Mixon while helping hold him to a season-low 59 yards on the ground. Despite eventually losing in overtime, the freshman was also able to put up 92 rushing yards and score his first varsity touchdown.
Malu remembers being at that game but admits he was there to see Mixon and only recalls that Harris “ran hard” and “had a decent game.” Although, the trainer soon became well aquatinted with the young back’s potential
A few weeks later Malu received a call from friend and former Freedom assistant Mori Suesue. Harris, who lived about 10 minutes from Malu’s house in Antioch needed a ride to a football camp 70 miles away in Modesto. Part because the request came from Suesue and part because he too remembers the struggles of growing up without a ride, the trainer figured “why not” and obliged.
Little did he know, a friendship would emerge.
“We had a whole hour and we just talked it up,” Malu said of the car ride. “I asked him, ‘What do you want to do,’ and he goes ‘I just want to be the best.’ I told him that I train people and goes, ‘I know.’ I said, ‘So what we doing?’ And he goes ‘Let’s work.’
“That was it. You would think we met each other before because we just clicked. We were talking the whole way to the camp and we talked the whole way back from the camp.”
Making a change for the better
The secret to living out of a hotel is to avoid being stationary, Harris’ mother Tianna Hicks explains when talking about her family's struggle through homelessness during Harris’ youth.
The youngest of five children between Hicks and Harris’ father, Curt Harris, Najee and his siblings were always doing something. If Hicks and her kids weren’t at a park or playing a sport, they were in the library reading or at some other community-sponsored event. That constant movement was often the only stability the family had in an ever-changing world.
There isn’t a definitive answer as to how many times Harris moved growing up. Any attempt begins with a sigh and is followed by a list of cities spanning across the West Coast. Hicks does her best, but Najee’s older brother Malachi Harris soon interrupts.
“We moved about four or five times,” He said, pausing before realizing he didn’t finish his sentence. “Four or five times per year.”
That constant change of scenery was part of a volatile upbringing that saw Najee face several hardships at a very young age. It hardened him and led to multiple violent outbreaks and discipline in his early school days.
By the time Malu met Najee most of that anger had been internalized, although glimpses of it were still present from time to time. Workouts were a way to let out all of that pain in a way that wouldn’t get him in trouble.
“I saw it a couple times,” Malu explained, “Some one would pull his dreads during a scrimmage or say something to him and he just took the whole bottle of pre-workout (supplements) and just exploded on the weights.
“I’d tell him, ‘Hey, you can use weights to cope with everything. Let it out on the weights.”’
It didn’t take long for Najee to show his potential in the weight room either. Malu said it was clear after Najee’s first session that he wasn’t an average kid. While the young back didn’t necessarily enjoy working out at first, he showed a diligence to his form on every lift. If he couldn’t master a workout during his time at the gym, Najee would do his best to round up supplies around the house to draw up a makeshift course to add a few extra reps on the sidewalk.
Despite coming to Malu with just 180 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame, it was obvious the skinny back wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Meet "The Mayor"
Malu likens the Sycamore neighborhood where Najee lived in Antioch to South Central Los Angeles.
“Just in that few blocks, there are killings and shootings every night,” he said.
That didn’t stop the talented back from sneaking out from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. to break into the high school stadium in search of a midnight workout. While dangerous, the late-night work translated to success on the field.
Najee wasted no time setting the tone on what would be a breakout sophomore year. During his season opener, he ran for 279 yards and four touchdowns on 35 carries. He followed that up with 262 yards and two more touchdowns the next week, paving the way for a season that would see him gain 2,263 yards and 23 touchdowns over 11 games.
Although, the more success Najee achieved, the harder he worked to better himself. The late-night visits to the stadium became even more common, much to the dismay of his concerned mother.
“I was never OK with it, but there was no stopping him,” Hicks said. “I knew why he was doing it, and I knew no matter what I did he was going to find a way to go out there. He was determined.”
As Najee’s numbers grew, so did his notoriety around town. Pretty soon, the Antioch Police Department dispatched an officer to monitor him, making sure he made to and from his nightly workout sessions safely.
Although, that might not have mattered.
Malu still recalls a story Najee told him of a time he was stopped by a neighborhood “shot caller” of a gang outside a local convenience store. Rolling up in his car, the man questioned, “Are you Najee?” to which the young back said he was. The man then explained who he was and pointed toward a group of men standing in the corner.
“As he pulled up he goes, ‘You just keep doing your thing. Everyone here in Antioch loves you, and we’re behind you. You see that group over there, they know not to touch you,’” Malu said. “I told Najee, ‘Man, the hood even got your back.’”
The next year, Najee followed up with an even more dominant junior season. One of the most hotly recruited players in the nation, he rushed for 2,744 yards and 36 touchdowns and led Antioch to an 11-1 season, falling one point short of a berth in the championship game.
“He brought a lot of pride,” Antioch head coach John Lucido said. “It was like he was bringing the old Antioch back together. Our stands were packed full of guys I played with and old coaches. People were starting to come back and watch the games. He definitely changed the culture just around our little area.”
That pride seeped into the community as Antioch residents swear crime went down during Najee’s four years of high school. Younger kids would show up at his door hoping for advice and training, while adults stopped him in the street to tell him how much he meant to the community.
“They started calling him "The Mayor" because he made changes around the neighborhood,” Hicks said.
Najee finished his senior season with 2,776 yards and 36 touchdowns while leading Antioch to an 8-5 record and a trip to the championship game. The local hero finished with a school-best 7,948 career rushing yards, the fourth-most in California high school football history.
Fighting for carries in a loaded Alabama backfield, Najee has no plans of slowing down. He’s come too far and has too many people believing in him to stop now.
“He’s going to keep following the plan,” Malu said. “First we lock down Friday, then we take Saturday. Once we take Saturday and dominate it, that gives us the opportunity to take Sunday.’”
