Alabama Football: Najee Harris snubbed from Heisman finalists list

Alabama football’s Najee Harris deserved to be a Heisman finalist

The Heisman finalists were announced, and a certain Alabama football running back was missing from the list. Najee Harris has been an excellent player this season, and he deserved to be a Heisman finalist.

Harris was a longshot to win the Heisman Trophy. It is mostly a quarterback award, and previous running backs to win have played with lesser quarterbacks. Derrick Henry had Jake Coker, and Mark Ingram had Greg McElroy. While those quarterbacks have a place in Alabama football history, they are nowhere near as good as Mac Jones.

That being said, Najee still did more than enough to become a Heisman finalist. Despite playing with the best passing offense that Alabama football has ever seen, Harris managed to score more touchdowns than anyone else in the country. With 27 TDs in 11 games, Najee is already close to topping Henry’s 28 touchdowns in 15 games during his Heisman season. Not only is Harris an amazing scorer, but he has done it in a multitude of ways. Najee can take down a defense between the tackles, but he is agile enough to score on the edge. He is also a terrific receiving back, as proven with his three receiving touchdowns in the SEC Championship.

Thankfully, Alabama football will still be well represented in the Heisman record books. Both Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith were among the finalists. Smitty is certainly the frontrunner, but Mac Jones might not be far behind him. With half of the Heisman finalists playing for the Crimson Tide, odds are high that the trophy will come back to Tuscaloosa at the end of the year.

If an Alabama player ends up winning the Heisman Trophy, it will be the first non-running back to ever win the award for the Crimson Tide. It would also be Nick Saban’s third winner in Tuscaloosa. While fans are excited for both Mac Jones and DeVonta Smith, the fact remains that Najee Harris deserved more credit for what he has done this season.