This stat proves Alabama football’s Najee Harris is criminally underrated

Najee Harris must be the most underrated running back in college football.

Alabama football has another star running back in Najee Harris.

Though he may not be getting the praise of Travis Etienne of the Clemson Tigers or Chuba Hubbard of the Oklahoma State Cowboys nationally, Harris is among the best running backs in the SEC alongside Kylin Hill of the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Zamir White of the Georgia Bulldogs. Harris has a great shot to be Alabama’s third Heisman Trophy winner in school history.

While Harris’ Heisman candidacy feels bit more like the dark horse variety, we could have said the same thing about Mark Ingram Jr. in his sophomore year of 2009 and Derrick Henry in his junior season in 2015. Nobody saw them coming either. Harris is putting in the work ahead of his senior year. Just check out his YouTube channel. If you need more proof, check out this crazy stat.

Najee Harris refuses to turn the football over for the Crimson Tide.

In Harris’ three seasons thus far at Alabama, he has never fumbled the football in 424 career touches. Yes, with 387 career carries and 37 career catches out of the backfield, Harris has never coughed up the rock to the other team. Though keeping this non-fumbling streak alive may be tough, his ability to protect the ball will come in handy during his final college football season.

As a junior in 2019, Harris was Second-Team All-SEC with 209 carries for 1,224 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. Adding to his value, Harris had 27 catches for 304 yards and seven additional trips to pay dirt out of the backfield as a receiver. This allowed him to amass over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and score 20 touchdowns for the Crimson Tide in 2019.

The Alabama offense will be asking a lot out of Harris this fall. With the Crimson Tide likely starting quarterback Mac Jones, one bad game or two might give way to true freshman Bryce Young from Harris’ native California. Alabama does have a pair of electrifying receivers in DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, but we may see Harris achieve bell-cow status this year approaching 250 carries.

If Harris were to accumulate well over 700 career touches in four years at Alabama and never turn the football over, he should be able to profit of his name, image and likeness on elite instructional videos strictly on ball security alone. Of course, PFF College may have jinxed Harris with their graphic, but that’s the type of underrated stat that should never go unnoticed.

Harris’ ball security skills are a big reason he can contend for the 2020 Heisman Trophy.

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