Antioch’s Harris rises with the Tide
After frustrating start at Alabama, top recruit leads nation in touchdowns and eyes Heisman
Alabama running back Najee Harris churns out yards with rugged efficiency, but his most eyepopping play this season might have occurred without the ball.
Texas A& M defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal snatched a tipped pass out of the air Oct. 3 and rumbled toward the end zone. He seemed destined to score until Harris, who had been on a pass route and trailed Leal by 8to10 yards when he made the interception, chased him down from behind.
This display of hustle and speed — Harris was timed at 21.7 mph on the play — no doubt impressed NFL scouts. And that was a big part of his motive in bypassing the draft in April and returning to Alabama for his senior season.
Now, six games into a pandemic-shortened schedule, Harris — an Antioch High alum, the nation’s No. 1 recruit in 2017 and the Bay Area’s alltime leading prep rusher — stands poised to etch his name in Crimson Tide lore. He also could climb into Heisman Trophy contention, depending
on how the next month unfolds.
Harris leads the nation in touchdowns ( 14), ranks sixth in rushing yards ( 714) and on Heisman trackers sits as high as fifth ( including Action Network) and sixth ( espn. com). Alabama, 60 and ranked second behind Clemson, has a bye Saturday and returns to action Nov. 14 against LSU.
Antioch offensive coordinator Brett Dudley, who remains close with Harris and trades texts with him ahead of every Alabama game, is not at all surprised to see him blossom in his final college season.
“We’ve always known how good Najee is,” Dudley said this week. “The biggest change now is the rest of the country is seeing it. He’s really starting to get the national attention.”
Harris, reserved during his high school days, is becoming more comfortable with the attention. One example: He organized a march for racial justice in August in Tuscaloosa, Ala., then spoke to the crowd afterward.
His maturity also was evident during an ESPN “College GameDay” segment on his connection to Braxton Weidman, an 8yearold cancer patient from Birmingham, Ala. Harris is Weidman’s favorite player.
“I feel like talking to Braxton made my whole week,” Harris said on the segment. “To put a smile on a young kid’s face who’s going through that stuff, it’s really inspiring.”
Harris ran for 206 yards and scored five touchdowns in Alabama’s next game, against Mississippi.
This is what Harris envisioned during his first two frustrating seasons in Tuscaloosa, as he not-so-patiently waited his turn in a crowded backfield. He tasted life as the lead back last year, when he rushed for 1,224 yards.
And now, after waiting one more year to turn pro, he’s become an indispensable cog in the Alabama machine.
“He understands there’s always going to be a tomorrow and you just have to keep working,” said Marcus Malu, Harris’ longtime trainer and friend. “I don’t think he’ll ever be happy until that day comes when he can put his mom in a ( nicer) place. That’s why he’s been grinding so hard.”
Malu long ago predicted Harris one day would win the Heisman Trophy. Malu isn’t ready to concede, even if Harris must leapfrog quarterbacks such as Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Harris’ own teammate, Mac Jones.
“I think Najee still has a chance,” Malu said. “If he goes crazy in these last four games, he’ll be right there.”
Four players who grew up in the Bay Area have won the Heisman: UCLA quarterback Gary Beban ( from Redwood City) in 1967, USC running back O. J. Simpson ( from San Francisco) in 1968, Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett ( San Jose) in 1970 and Miami quarterback Gino Torretta ( Pinole) in 1992.
Several players at Bay Area schools came close to joining the list of Heisman winners. Cal’s Chuck Muncie ( 1975) finished second in the voting, as did Stanford’s John Elway ( 1982), Toby Gerhart ( 2009), Andrew Luck ( 2010 and ’ 11), Christian McCaffrey ( 2015) and Bryce Love ( 2017).
Harris faces an uphill climb, given his position. Seventeen of the 20 winners this century were quarterbacks, though the three exceptions were running backs. Two of them, Mark Ingram in 2009 and Derrick Henry in ’ 15, played at Alabama.
USC’s Reggie Bush was the other running back in 2005, but he later forfeited his Heisman after an NCAA investigation found he received improper benefits in college.
Dudley insisted Harris doesn’t worry about individual accolades as much as team success and his own NFL prospects. To that end, Dudley is encouraged by Harris’ development as a blocker — he routinely picks up pass rushers, giving Jones time to connect on his frequent downfield passes.
“Najee didn’t do a ton of pass protecting for us ( at Antioch), and when he did he was just so much bigger than every other human on the field, it didn’t really matter,” Dudley said. “He went to block someone, and I think they were just happy they didn’t have to tackle him.”
Harris, at 6foot2 and 230 pounds, remains a chore to bring down — one reason he has a realistic chance to surpass Henry as the leading rusher in Alabama history. Henry owns the school record with 3,591 yards rushing; Harris, with 3,091, needs 501 to break the record, with four regularseason games left. ( He needs nine rushing touchdowns to set another school record.)
The Crimson Tide also are likely to play in the SEC Championship Game and, potentially, two College Football Playoff games.
For now, Antioch head coach John Lucido merely enjoys the ride. Lucido traveled to Tuscaloosa last month to watch Harris play against Texas A& M; they caught up over dinner.
Lucido marveled at how much Harris has matured in the past four years, much the way he’s grown into the same kind of dominant running back he was at Antioch.
“I think everything is kind of slowing down for him,” Lucido said. “He looks like he did in high school.”