TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Najee Harris kept the entire nation guessing, including his mother.
The No. 1 overall recruit in the 2017 class caused a bit of drama in January as rumors surfaced that he would flip his commitment from Alabama to Michigan. Harris told reporters during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 7 that he would arrive at one of those two schools but kept his decision extremely close to the vest.
The suspense ended the next day as Harris arrived at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, ending his recruitment and cementing his commitment to the Crimson Tide. The process made quite the recruiting storyline. However, for Harris’ mother, Tianna Hicks, it caused some last-minute arrangements.
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After offers started rolling in for her son, Hicks decided she would move to wherever Harris committed in order to stay close and be able to watch him play. That plan would have been fine if she knew exactly where that would be.
“He messed with my head the whole time,” Hicks said with a laugh. “I thought at first we were coming to Alabama, so I started to look for jobs in Alabama. Then he started leaning toward Michigan, so I had to start working on getting some connections there. I had dropped all my Alabama connections and started working on Michigan. The last day of the Army All-American Bowl when he decided on Alabama, that’s when I had to turn back around and re-establish my connections that I had.
“I did not know up until the day he said he was leaving. He had my head spinning. Later on, he said, ‘I never told anybody I was going to change my commitment,’ but boy he had me on a good one.”
Hicks moved to Birmingham in February and works in the office of a local plastic surgeon. Having worked 17 years in the medical field, she chose Birmingham over Tuscaloosa due to its prestigious medical community.
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Despite being a short drive away from her son, Hicks says she doesn’t get to see him as often as she originally planned. With Harris trying to break into the Tide’s loaded backfield, most of his time is spent either in practice, the weight room or behind a book. Although, the two still find a way to carve out some time once a week to be together.
Hicks makes the 110-mile round trip to Tuscaloosa twice every Sunday, picking up Harris in the morning to attend church in Birmingham before dropping him back off in the afternoon.
There are also special occasions, like this week as the five-star freshman prepares for the first home game of his college career.
“I do his hair,” Hicks said. “So (Friday) before the game, I’ll be going out there so I can do his hair for the game. We’ve always spent Sunday’s together, so I’ve always wanted to keep that family thing going, especially since he’s way out here by himself.”
Hicks admits the move to Alabama hasn’t been easy. She says she misses her friends back in California and says she feels out of place at times. Of course, it helps that she isn’t the only parent to move across the country to be closer to her son.
Freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s family uprooted from their home in Hawaii to move to Alabaster, a Birmingham suburb an hour away from Tuscaloosa. While the Tagovailoas still live roughly 30 minutes away from Hicks, she says she has already started a friendship with Tua’s mother Diane.
“We talk about what it’s like and how it’s different here,” Hicks said. “We both still feel kind of out of place you want to say. I know I do, I can’t speak too much for Diane. I feel kind of out of place just because you are not around your friends and the people that know you. You are in a whole different state, and it is a southern state, so it’s not like my westerners.”
Hicks did say she enjoys the southern hospitality quite a bit and stated she has “never met nicer people in the world.” There is another part of living in Alabama that she has grown accustomed to as well.
“Oh my God, I could eat all day,” Hicks said. “When I first got here it was greens because you can get greens everywhere. That made my blood pressure shoot up. Eating out became the thing to do because there’s all this good food. I gained some weight out here.”
Acclimating is still a slow process, but Hicks has some help. She is currently joined by Harris’ older brother Malachi Harris and older sister Jahmila Harris, who both live with her in Birmingham. Hicks said she expects even more of the family to follow her to Alabama in the coming years.
For now, the trio is making their way just fine. All three will be on to cheer on Najee inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday as Alabama takes on Fresno State at 2:30 p.m. for its home opener.
After all, that is what makes all of this worth it.
“I wanted to watch him play football,” Hicks said. “I’ve been watching him play all his life, so my goal was, no matter what school he was going to, I was going to watch him play.”
