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"Alabama's next star is already on campus" (And it's not Tua) ;)

Bamabuzzard

Bamabuzzard

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RollTide_HTTR

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He has the tools to be the best overall RB under Nick Saban for sure. He's big and strong but more agile than Bo or Henry and is supposed to have great hands. He also seems to have worked on a lot of different moves. He trucks people, he jukes people, he even showed off a spin move at least once, and he will sometimes hurdle people(although I hope he stops the hurdling.)

I really think he and Ruggs are going to have huge breakout years.
 
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bamamick

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Re: Najee Harris is ready to break out for Crimson Tide

I was not terrifically impressed with him until the last game. He runs straight up and down and that's normally not a good thing, but Derrick pulled it off and hopefully so can Najee.

rtr
 
CoachJeff

CoachJeff

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RollTide_HTTR said:
He has the tools to be the best overall RB under Nick Saban for sure. He's big and strong but more agile than Bo or Henry and is supposed to have great hands. He also seems to have worked on a lot of different moves. He trucks people, he jukes people, he even showed off a spin move at least once, and he will sometimes hurdle people(although I hope he stops the hurdling.)

I really think he and Ruggs are going to have huge breakout years.
Click to expand...
Best by what metric? Derrick Henry's 2015 season was the greatest season a RB has ever had in SEC history. What could top that?
 
Nolan

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For his size he’s dynamic. Doesn’t go down on first contact and has a knack for finding 2-3 yards when nothing is there.

Along with Damien, this will be a terrific 1-2 punch. Throw in JJ and it’s a dangerous RB group.
 
Bamabuzzard

Bamabuzzard

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Re: Najee Harris is ready to break out for Crimson Tide

bamamick said:
I was not terrifically impressed with him until the last game. He runs straight up and down and that's normally not a good thing, but Derrick pulled it off and hopefully so can Najee.

rtr
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I think you have to look at him through the lens of him being a true freshman. Yes, he still needs to polish and refine his game. But Derrick Henry wasn't as polished as he was as a true freshman. I remember Henry being a little more raw at this stage of his Bama career than Harris. One thing that Harris has that Henry didn't and that is the quick "burst" of acceleration. Henry tended to "lumber" a bit before getting to top end speed. Harris has more quick burst acceleration than Henry. Not taking anything away from Henry whatsoever. Probably one of the or the greatest RB's to ever come through Bama. But Harris does have some qualities that Henry didn't have.
 
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RollTide_HTTR

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CoachJeff said:
Best by what metric? Derrick Henry's 2015 season was the greatest season a RB has ever had in SEC history. What could top that?
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Well I said best overall RB not best season. Hes more agile than Henry but is still big and able to run guys over. He also is supposed to have great hands. Basically, I could see him being looked at in the Fournette/Richardson level when he is entering the NFL. (regardless of TRich being a bust he was still thought to be the next coming of AP). I'm not at all saying he is there today but by the end of his career? Yea I see that as a real possibility.
 
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RollTide_HTTR

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Re: Najee Harris is ready to break out for Crimson Tide

bamamick said:
I was not terrifically impressed with him until the last game. He runs straight up and down and that's normally not a good thing, but Derrick pulled it off and hopefully so can Najee.

rtr
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He does run too upright right now. I'm sure he will improve there though. He impressed me with the variety of ways he is capable of getting by people and I think he has more "tools" than even Henry or TRich had. That doesn't mean he is going to get there but he has the potential to be reallllly special.
 
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BamaMark.

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Re: Najee Harris is ready to break out for Crimson Tide

I had the same thoughts until the championship game. He looked good but not great before that game. I had the same thoughts about Damien Harris and Derrick Henry as well and I was sure wrong about that. I think Trent was the only back that you could really tell as soon as he saw the field that he was going to be great. JMO...


bamamick said:
I was not terrifically impressed with him until the last game. He runs straight up and down and that's normally not a good thing, but Derrick pulled it off and hopefully so can Najee.

rtr
Click to expand...
 
CrimsonForce

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RollTide_HTTR said:
Well I said best overall RB not best season. Hes more agile than Henry but is still big and able to run guys over. He also is supposed to have great hands. Basically, I could see him being looked at in the Fournette/Richardson level when he is entering the NFL. (regardless of TRich being a bust he was still thought to be the next coming of AP). I'm not at all saying he is there today but by the end of his career? Yea I see that as a real possibility.
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I think the biggest difference between Najee and Derrick is acceleration / top end speed. Henry ran a laser timed 4.54 40 at the NFL combine and recorded the fastest TD in the NFL one week. Henry is freakishly fast for his size. Najee ran a 4.66 40 which probably wasn't laser timed so it's safe to assume he's about a step slower than Henry when talking about pulling away speed. I do agree with you that Najee is more agile than Henry so he may not get tripped up as much at the LOS and be able to sift through traffic better..
 
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RollTide_HTTR

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CrimsonForce said:
I think the biggest difference between Najee and Derrick is acceleration / top end speed. Henry ran a laser timed 4.54 40 at the NFL combine and recorded the fastest TD in the NFL one week. Henry is freakishly fast for his size. Najee ran a 4.66 40 which probably wasn't laser timed so it's safe to assume he's about a step slower than Henry when talking about pulling away speed. I do agree with you that Najee is more agile than Henry so he may not get tripped up as much at the LOS and be able to sift through traffic better..
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Henry very well may be faster but his listed time was a 4.72 40 coming out of HS. And, I would bet he trained a lot harder specifically for that laser timed 40 than Najee did for his. Either way, we will see how much it matters this season because as long as Najee doesn't get tackled from behind a bunch it shouldn't be much of an issue. I think the extra "wiggle" he has compared to Henry could more than make up for any possible decrease in top end speed.

EDIT: I wanted to clarify that Najee DOES seem to be slower than Henry from watching him but its such a small sample size that I think part of it could be simply hesitation because he is young and a lack of opportunity to see him on break away runs.

I don't think Najee is better than Henry right now but I do think he has the opportunity to get to that level based on the skill set he has shown.
 
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RedWave

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I like Najee. Thought he had shown a good bit in garbage time when he got in throughout the season, and then really came through when it mattered. I have seen a few compare him to Henry. I haven't noticed, though. Does Najee have a stiffarm like Henry did?
 
selmaborntidefan

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Well, I hope for our (and his success) but I’ve lived too long and seen too many “The next Bo Jackson/Herschel/Manning” to get overly excited.


I remember when a quarterback named Billy Ray came to Alabama as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Did he even play a down for us?

And too many names to go through. Hey, hope he’s great but it’ll happen or it won’t.

And it IS football so it only takes one hit.
 
Bamabuzzard

Bamabuzzard

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RollTide_HTTR said:
Henry very well may be faster but his listed time was a 4.72 40 coming out of HS. And, I would bet he trained a lot harder specifically for that laser timed 40 than Najee did for his. Either way, we will see how much it matters this season because as long as Najee doesn't get tackled from behind a bunch it shouldn't be much of an issue. I think the extra "wiggle" he has compared to Henry could more than make up for any possible decrease in top end speed.

EDIT: I wanted to clarify that Najee DOES seem to be slower than Henry from watching him but its such a small sample size that I think part of it could be simply hesitation because he is young and a lack of opportunity to see him on break away runs.

I don't think Najee is better than Henry right now but I do think he has the opportunity to get to that level based on the skill set he has shown.
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He maybe slower but he's quicker at changing directions and accelerating up field. A good comparison is Jalen and Tua. Jalen can flat out leave Tua if running a race. But Tua is quicker at changing directions.
 
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