Alabama Football player to watch this week: Damien Harris

This is a weekly article series examining the development of one Alabama Football player. Last week, the player chosen was sophomore running back, Joshua Jacobs.  This week, the player chosen is junior running back Damien Harris.

Damien Harris is a 5-11, 221 pounds, wrecking ball of a running back from Richmond, KY.  Out of all the running backs in the Alabama football backfield, Harris has easily been the most consistent and healthiest.

Although Harris has never been the lone feature back at Alabama, he’s turned many of his touches into memorable runs for the Tide.  His long runs by season are 41(2015), 73(2016), and 34(2017 so far).

Harris provides a “lightning” ability that compliments Bo Scarbrough’s “thunder” running style, which makes them a dynamic tandem for the Tide.  So far this season, Harris has accumulated 161 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 26 carries.  That gives him an amazing average of 6.1 yards-per-carry.

With conference play starting Saturday against Vandy, the Tide are likely to start overpowering opponents with the running game.  Expect to see a lot more carries between the backs and Damien Harris possibly breaking for runs much longer than his 34 yarder this season.

Damien Harris is more than JUST a football player

Often, when players speak out, they are usually told that they should just “stick to sports”.  For Damien Harris, he’s not just a football player and made sure that one twitter troll knew that:

Harris knows that being a star player for one of the best teams in the country most likely means a shot at an NFL career.

Sure, playing football for a living is a great career, but Harris also knows that there is much more to look forward to in life. As reported by Aaron Suttles of Tidesports.com. 

"“in the grand scheme of life you play football for maybe 20 years of your life if you’re a great player. That’s if you make it for a couple of years in the league which doesn’t happen very often. That’s another 50-60 years of life that you still have to live. It’s kind of like, once football is over then what? Football’s a great game. Sports are great for people. But that’s not your whole life. There’s a lot to look forward to after that.”"

There is much more about Damien and his mother, Lynn Harris in the story by Aaron Suttles. It is worth a full read.

It’s great to see that along with his talent on the football field, Damien Harris also has a great head on his shoulders.

Next: Alabama Football: Just how good is the Vandy Defense?

Next week, we will examine the development of another Alabama football player on their path to becoming a routine contributor and/or better overall player for the Tide. Connect with us on Facebook and share your thoughts on which player’s development is vital for the 2017 Alabama football team.