Najee Harris more interested in leadership role than Heisman race
Najee Harris "The Campain" Episode 1
Najee Harris "The Campain" Episode 2
Najee Harris "The Campain" Episode 3
Even after beginning his Heisman campaign a bit early this offseason, Najee Harris knows he’s going to need some help securing college football’s most prestigious award.
Earlier this month, the Alabama back put together a three-part series entitled “The Campaign” on his YouTube channel. While Harris wouldn’t mind getting his hands on some hardware this fall, he referred to the videos as more of a hobby.
“I wasn’t really focused on it,” Harris said with a chuckle. “As a running back, it’s hard to win the Heisman if we’re being realistic here, nowadays, especially with all these great quarterbacks.”
Harris has a point. While Alabama has produced the past two Heisman running backs, nine of the past 10 winners of the award have been quarterbacks. Still, last weekend’s performance against Missouri was a good start.
Harris gashed the Tigers for 98 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries while leading the Tide to a 38-19 victory. The three rushing touchdowns match tied a career-high and were the most by any SEC back on the opening weekend. Harris is also currently second in the conference in rushing yards behind Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spiller who ran for 117 yards on eight carries against Vanderbilt last week.
While one game is a bit too soon to begin Heisman chatter, Harris has been running at this pace for a while. Over his last 10 games, he has averaged 105.6 yards and 1.5 touchdowns on the ground.
Simple math tells us that if Harris keeps up at that rate, he’ll be sitting at 1,056 rushing yards and 15 scores on the ground by the time the Tide wraps up regular-season play. Considering the truncated season and the fact that all of Alabama’s games will be played against SEC opposition, those numbers could certainly place him firmly in the Heisman conversation.
Depending on how Alabama’s postseason goes, Harris’ current pace could also see him pass the school’s all-time rushing mark. Following the game against Missouri, he moved into 14th place on the Tide’s rushing list with 2,475 yards, 1,116 yards away from Derrick Henry’s school record.
Talking to reporters Monday, Harris said he only became aware of the possibility this past weekend when someone tagged him over social media after the game. The senior said the achievement was not really a personal goal of his, stating he’s more focused on becoming a better leader in the locker room.
“My goal is to become more of a spokesman person because I suck at that right now with my teammates,” Harris said. “I’m not the type of guy to be in front of people and talk, I’m not really that type of guy. I like one-on-one more, I’m like that type of guy.
“I’m trying to be a better teammate right now, it’s not about numbers. I try to work on the stuff I need to improve on. I try to put better stuff on film… Not really numbers, just improving more on the stuff I lacked last year. That’s the stuff I look forward to individually-wise.”
This week, Harris and Alabama will face a Texas A&M defense that held Vanderbilt to 105 yards on 38 carries (2.8 yards per carry) last week. The Aggies boast a strong defensive front that features preseason All-SEC member Bobby Brown III, who earned an 85.1 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus last season.
“The whole Texas A&M D-line, defense in general, has a really good defense,” Harris said. “They really do a good job of stopping the run. Their safeties play a huge part in the run game, too… Everybody on that team is like a person that we can’t not include in the game plan. Bobby, of course, he’s a good player, too. But the whole front four is all huge, too.
“They’re all 6-4, 6-5, 300, 200, 280 — they’re all that size, and they all can move. So this is going to be another challenge for us, but us as a team is ready for the challenge like always.”
No. 2 Alabama will host No. 13 Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be televised nationally on CBS.
