Throughout Nick Saban’s tenure at Alabama his teams have consistently produced great running backs.
It’s been one after the other in Tuscaloosa with each seemingly better than the last.
Glen Coffee was Saban’s first primary back at Alabama in 2007-08. Coffee finished his college career with 2,107 yards and 14 touchdowns on 410 attempts. Next was Mark Ingram, who became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner during a historic sophomore season in 2009.
The following year, Ingram split carries with Trent Richardson, who emerged as the Tide’s primary back and a Heisman finalist in 2011 before being selected third overall in the 2012 NFL Draft. Eddie Lacy followed suit in 2012 with a team-best 1,322 yards before finding a home with the Green Bay Packers.
T.J. Yeldon, who rushed for 1,108 yards as a freshman behind Lacy, took over as the primary back in 2013 and finished with 1,235 as a sophomore. In 2014, Alabama turned its focus on its passing attack as Amari Cooper emerged as the nation’s best wide receiver. Still, the Tide managed to split carries between Yeldon, fellow junior Kenyan Drake — before his season ended due to a leg injury — and sophomore Derrick Henry who, despite having 22 less attempts than Yeldon, rushed for a team-best 990 yards on 172 attempts.
Henry became the team’s primary option in 2014 as Alabama turned its focus back to its rushing attack. The junior carried the offense with 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns — both SEC single-season records — on 395 carries. In 2016, the Tide will look toward the future with Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris and B.J. Emmons expected to compete to replace Henry following his decision to forego his senior season and declare for the 2016 NFL Draft.
But, as is the case with all Saban teams, Alabama is still focused on recruiting to ensure that it continues to find success at the running back position in the future. The Tide already has a commitment from Najee Harris, who ranks as the No. 1 overall prospect for the 2017 National Recruiting Class, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
Harris is already 6-foot-2, 220 pounds and has been committed to Alabama for almost a year. His strengths include balance, power and size but he needs to improve his breakaway speed, according to Scout.com.
Harris recorded 2,744 yards and 39 touchdowns as a junior and was named CalHiSports.com’s state player of the year, according to Colin Becht of SI.com. The Antioch, Calif. native will participate in The Opening Oakland Regional in May and is expected to earn an invite to The Opening Finals for the second straight year.
Harris is still fielding offers from other teams, including UCLA and USC, but remains firm in his commitment to Alabama. If he does stick with the Tide, the team will have likely found its running back — likely Scarbrough — by the time he enrolls.
Still, Harris can make an impact as a freshman. Like Henry, Yeldon, Lacy, Richardson and Ingram before him, the 5-star back could see a share of carries in his first season before taking over as the primary option in Alabama’s offense. If nothing else, playing behind other former blue chip backs will help his development as it has with many of the Tide’s previous standouts.
There’s no reason to rush him into carrying the load of Alabama’s offense. Harris should be eased into the college game by seeing enough carries to excel, yet not being burned out early in his career. This will likely be the case during his first season and he should see an expanded role in 2018.
Harris should continue the trend of breakout Alabama running backs should he stick to his commitment in 2017.
Obviously, that’s more than a year away and things could change, but with Alabama coming off a national championship and consistently producing standout running backs, it would be wise for him to stick with the Tide.
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