Najee Harris Contemplated Transfer -- Yahoo Sports/SF Chronicle
Harris contemplated transferring following the title game. If he had followed through, he would have been the second consecutive #1 RB recruit to leave Alabama after his freshman year, following the pattern of BJ Emmons the year prior.
Seats taken.
Shoulda Gone Blue
This is the downside of making a business decision over where you truly WANT to go (a bit of an assumption there but...come on)
Whoa
Woooo
Ooooooh
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
I’d take him in a heartbeat
How about at least asking for consent first. It's 2018 fer gods sake!!!
Ugh.
If only we had him, Higdon and Evans this year.
Yeah,
Two would play and the other would be sitting out bc he wasn't eligible to play.
Who would be ineligible? If he signed with Michigan originally he would have all his eligibility.
On the one hand: Soooo many players contemplate transfers when they don't get the playing time they were hoping for in their first two years. Most end up sticking. A few transfer. It usually just remains a private rumination. In this case it went public.
On the other hand: Soooo many accurately predicted that if Harris chose Alabama his chance of being the feature back early were much slimmer than at Michigan. So.... Life is full of choices. Choose wisely.
Yep.
This feels like a repeated theme for us.
So Tua and Najee both thought about transferring? Lemme guess, they were told they'd get significant playing time as freshmen and were lied to by Saban? Then a money bag convinced them otherwise
Tua might still end up transferring because I believe Hurts will still be the starter.
Doubful. I'd say it's more likely Hurts ends up grad transferring after this season.
You're tracking his academic progress, are you?
Probably doesn't have to track anything, anyone with a pulse can get a degree from Alabama. It isn't exactly what one would call a premier educational institution
Exactly...you know that their academic standing isn't exactly high when Forrest Gump is their most famous alumnus!
But I thought De'Shawn Hand went there because of their superior engineering degree!
Waterfalls, bro. Waterfalls
He’ll probably leave after next season. He had enough opportunity last season to show why he was the number one high school player, and he came up short—in garbage time against FCS opponents. The Deep South is also vastly different from California. Not to mention, Alabama gets high four- and five-star players regularly, so there’s no special treatment (not that Najee needs it, but it’s gotta be tough going from Mr. #1 to Mr. Pine Rider with zero fucks given by the staff).
Did you watch him in the NCG? It was evident he was a better back than both Scarborough and Harris
Harris was the better back on the whole last year and it wasn't even close. Dude averaged 7.5 yards per carry while dealing with a nagging ankle injury.
That is true. His acceleration through the line of scrimmage was a thing of beauty. Who knows why he really wants to leave. He would’ve been special here in a winged-helmet!
That is true. His acceleration through the line of scrimmage was a thing of beauty. Who knows why he really wants to leave. He would’ve been special here in a winged-helmet!
So Harris was better than Harris? Or do you mean that one Harris was worse than the other Harris?
Wait, what?
He came up short? He averaged 6 yards per carry on the year with three TD and was big in the title game.
In garbage time against FCS teams?
1. Bama played 1 FCS team
2. 10-70 vs VAndy, 7-43, TD vs Ole Miss, 5-33, TD vs Arkansas, 7-50 against Tennessee, and 6-64 against Georgia in the National Championship.
Don't be salty man. Its a bummer he didn't come to UM and we want to make it seem like he made a bad decision, but he was a freshman who was behind some really good talent and he still came in and did a good job
You have zero idea what you're talking about. He was very good in limited opportunities
That last sentence is why he should have chosen Michigan. Not saying he would have received special treatment, but he would have had a serious chance to be THE GUY from day 1.
The way he played out his final choice leading up to signing day could reasonably have been interpreted as trolling Michigan.
I can't say for sure that it was. But if a guy wanted to do a troll job then playing it out like Harris did would be the way to do it. All reports were that Harris told the Michigan staff he was blue, and then he just showed up in Tuscaloosa.
Doesn't matter. The RB position group at Michigan this year is not going to the the difference between 9-3 or 11-1. RB group is strong. The offensive line (really the OTs) and the two safety positions, plus whether Patterson can really run Harbaugh's (revamped?) offense, will determine whether it is 9-3 or Big Ten Champs.
Not trolling, just shaking down the Bama bagmen for a few dollars more. "You know, I could still go to Michigan...Why yes, I think I can help this attache case full of Benjamins find a good home."
Higdon will run for more yards and have a higher ypc than either Damien or Najee Harris
I hope so but those are two pretty damn good backs, running behind a very talented OLine.
i wouldnt be surprised if all three averaged 6+ yards/carry, 850-1200 yards. I'd even throw Chris Evans into that mix for 6+ yards/carry for around 700 yards.
He chose.....poorly.
got a ring tho
(Next to UM of course) I'd love to see what a #1 RB recruit would do at Wisconsin.
During years we don't play them.
Gordon was #18 RB (4star), Ball was #40 RB (3star).
Jonathan Taylor too was a 3 Star who ran for almost 1400 yds and 7.2 ypc in 9 games a true freshman.
A ton of guys think about transferring at some point in their careers and this is a NorCal kid going to school in Alabama.
I support the alternate dimension where Najee chose Michigan but this doesn’t mean that he’s miserable there and made the wrong choice or whatever.
I thought about transferring after my freshman year as well. Many have similar thoughts. But sticking it out is usually the best decision in the long run, and I'm sure Najee will have all the more phenomenal a year having confronted and overcome his own self doubt. I wish him great success (well, except for in the CFP semifinal against Michigan).
Assuming his views during recruitment didn't change (he wanted to prove himself against the best), he thinks he was better than the guys he played behind. If 'Bama isn't running a true meritocracy, I think that's fair grounds to transfer.
Hard to say with that squad though, right? I mean in limited duty, Najee was fantastic. But at Alabama, unless you're a QB, it's almost always a wait your turn kind of thing. At least if you want to be the #1 guy.
The benefits of more depth than one knows what to do with it.
Oh, I'm totally with you. As a fan, I think it's pretty clear-cut that 'Bama would need an injury situation similar to what they had at linebacker for him to play. I'm just saying from his perspective, he thought he outperformed the other guys, and while that's debatable, especially given the sample size, this would give him a good reason to bail.
Without Najee, Alabama does not win that championship game. Bama did what was good for Bama. If Najee left for the draft he is going in the 1st round easily.
Now, had be come here how would he have helped us last season? I would not play Najee over Karan or Evans last season. This year, behind an improved line and improved passing attack you will see just how good Evans, Harris, and Samuels are.
You sound..... curious.
I bet he still transfers but probably not to Michigan.
I'm sure he was bummed about not getting as many carries as a true freshman, but that's to be expected. I do wonder if the culture shift was tough, as going from the SF Bay area to what is basically the middle of Alabama must have been jarring.
Still, he'll play more this year and will enter the draft when eligible and be fine.
This one still bugs me, between Harris and Hand I’m still bitter. Both could of came here and been monsters on the field. Hand from day 1 instead of waiting until his senior year to even get 1/2 the reps.
Harris really seemed to want to come to Michigan but I think he was listening to everyone else instead of listening to his heart. Won’t surprise me if he ends up at Cal or Washington in the future.
You have to remember that Bama brings in 1-2 5* RB a yr so he playing and starting from day one would be very very rare.
I really wanted Harris and Hand but the other one no one talks about is Minkah Fitzpatrick who was real high on Michigan as well.