‘ I’m growing into a man’
From Antioch to Alabama and beyond, Harris blazes own trail
Barely more than four years ago, Najee Harris ended his transcendent high school football career on a crisp December night in the East Bay. Antioch fell to Monte VistaDanville in the North Coast Section championship game, and then Harris, the nation’s No. 1 recruit, headed to Alabama on a vapor trail of anticipation.
Monday night in South Florida, after two restless seasons in the background and two more as one of the college game’s top running backs, Harris will end his college career in another championship game, when his Crimson Tide meet Ohio State for the national title.
“A lot of people said this college stuff would go by fast, but to be honest, it did not,” Harris said in a recent phone interview with The Chronicle. “This whole year has been long. It’s
been crazy.”
No, he did not imagine his senior season unfolding amid a global pandemic. That punctuated an eventful run at Alabama, including early impatience, countless broken tackles, one march for racial justice, growing comfort in public speaking and, not incidentally, a college degree.
Harris graduated in a socially distant ceremony Dec. 12 in Tuscaloosa, hours after Alabama rolled to a 523 road victory over Arkansas. His mom, Tianna Hicks — who moved to Birmingham in 2017, so she could attend her son’s games — skipped this one to make sure she didn’t miss graduation.
He earned his degree in consumer sciences, with a social welfare minor, after many latenight tutoring sessions. It took time, but Harris ultimately learned how to balance football with academics and was “so excited” to receive his degree, as Hicks put it.
This achievement highlights Harris’ evolution the past four years, from a naturally reserved teenager to a more selfassured 22yearold on the brink of reaching the NFL.
“I’m different in a lot of ways,” he said. “I guess you could say I’ve matured a lot, just in going about life and school. I’m growing into a man, I guess … just being more responsible. I approached school differently
( this year), 100%.
“Just like a test or something, I used to wing it — and then I saw the consequences of winging it. Schoolwork starts to pile up, so you really have to set aside time during the day to do both school and football, or you’ll be behind drastically.”
Harris feared falling behind on the field as a freshman and sophomore, when he mostly waited behind older running backs such as Josh Jacobs ( now with the Raiders). But Harris more than made up for it the past two years, as Alabama’s undisputed No. 1 back.
He’s already established himself as the school’s alltime leader in touchdowns ( 54), rushing yards ( 3,764) and yards from scrimmage ( 4,466). Harris earned consensus firstteam AllAmerica honors this season, won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
He also helped lift Alabama to its Rose Bowl victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 1, with 125 yards on 15 carries and one internet breaking leap over Notre Dame cornerback Nick McCloud.
Hicks savored that memorable moment, absolutely, but she also finds significance in the
way Harris carries himself these days. Take his recent praise of soccer player Megan Rapinoe, saying he admires her social activism and “looks up to her” as a role model.
Or consider the march he helped organize in Tuscaloosa in August, amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Harris gave a spirited speech afterward, reminding the crowd, “This is not a problem that will eventually dissipate without action.”
“He’s still a big, playful kid,” Hicks said. “Him being able to come out and speak more to people, that’s shocked me; he used to shy away from the media. I’ve watched him become more of a leader, rather than sitting back and following.”
Still, the transition from Northern California to the Deep South included bumps in the road. Harris bristled at his lack of playing time as a freshman and contemplated leaving Alabama. He struggled at times with Southern culture and the smothering humidity.
Even now, Harris doesn’t hide his fondness for home — last year, he got a tattoo reading “Bay Area.” Hicks and her five kids ( Harris is the youngest) bounced between Seattle and the Bay Area during his childhood, ultimately moving from Richmond to Antioch in the summer of 2013, before Harris’ freshman year in high school.
“You learn so much in the Bay Area, just the people and the environment,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to leave that behind. There’s no other place like the bay, you learn so much there — history, racial stuff, cultural stuff, food.”
And life in Alabama?
“When I’m here, it’s strictly business,” he said. “There are some cool spots, but I could not live here. Some places are for some people and not others, and this place is not for me. I’m not saying anything bad about it, this just ain’t my cup of coffee.”
Harris engages in frequent, friendly geographic conversations with offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood, one of his closest friends on the team. Leatherwood is from Florida, so he and Harris often debate the merits of high school football in each state.
Harris also makes a point, Leatherwood said, of declaring the Bay Area’s superiority to Southern California as a place to live.
Leatherwood sees more of Harris’ goodnatured personality than most people — such as his habit of accepting FaceTime calls and pretending his phone is frozen. But Harris also was distant and moody at times his first two years, given his long stretches on the sideline ( only 61 carries as a freshman and 117 as a sophomore).
Harris is a “hyperaggressive competitor” and perfectionist, as Leatherwood put it, so he struggled to wait for his chance to deliver in games.
“Najee became more patient and trusting in the process of becoming the player he wanted to be,” Leatherwood said. “Him, me and Tua ( Tagovailoa) used to hang out a lot and talk about our frustrations when things weren’t going our way. He learned to trust the journey we were on, and now we’re seeing the results.”
The results figure to include a huge payday after the NFL draft in April. Harris, widely projected to go late in the second round or early in the third round last year, bypassed the draft to return to Alabama. Now he’s likely to become the first running back chosen, according to ESPN analyst Todd McShay, and probably a firstround pick.
That could net Harris a contract in the $ 10 million to $ 11 million range, more than double the deal he would have landed as an early thirdround choice.
He mostly sidestepped questions about his pro future, preferring to keep his gaze fixed on this season. Harris acknowledged he returned to Alabama mostly to improve his draft standing, and he thinks he accomplished that.
First, the leading rusher in Bay Area prep history has one more national championship game to play, his third at Alabama. Then he will decide where to spend the coming months preparing for the draft ( probably Florida or Texas), while his mom eyes a move back to Northern California.
They will take positive memories of their time in Alabama.
“This has been everything Najee wanted,” Hicks said. “Just seeing his name on the board as a starter, that’s what we’ve been waiting for — so he can show his magic on the field. It was hard and frustrating for him to wait, but I’m proud of him for sticking with it.”