Damien Harris is not loving where his Alma mater is right now.
The former two-time BCS National Champion (2015, 2017) at running back for the University of Alabama watched his school drop Southeastern Conference matchups versus Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Harris, a former two-time 1,000-plus yard rusher, was also a two-time SEC Champion in 2015 and 2016. He is the latest member of CBS Sports HQ and is a co-host on the Until Saturday podcast. Harris recently called out his former program for being “undisciplined” and “complacent” this season.
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The Crimson Tide has two losses before November for the first time since 2007, which was Nick Saban’s first year.
“This is an uncharacteristic, not hungry team,” Harris said about Alabama. “I think that is what it boils down to. You talk about the penalty yardage, and I am not going to beat a dead horse, but we are going to call it what it is. … The penalty at the end of the game where it turned a fourth and seven into a fourth and 22. What did I say after the Malachi Moore situation? If you don’t handle this, if you don’t approach it the right way, you set the precedent that this kind of behavior is acceptable. So what you get? In the biggest moment of the season, a guy gets a pass broken up, somebody gets to chirping in his ear, that is part of the game, and what do you do … you lose your cool and you cost your team a 15-yard penalty and potentially a chance to win the game.”
Harris seriously questions the leadership on this Tide team.
“Jalen Milroe is the quarterback, Kalen DeBoer is the head coach,” he said. “But where is the leadership?”
People enjoy comparing this Alabama team to those in the national championship years with Saban, but Harris said the Tide can only be compared to what it is right now. He does not see this team as a good team.
“These were two not good football teams that played each other,” Harris said about Alabama and Tennessee. “These two teams were almost staring each other the mirror. There were penalties, bad plays, missed receivers, fumbles, and turnovers. It was everything and someone had to lose, and that was Alabama. Why? Because they are undisciplined and get themselves in situations, like what are you going to call on fourth and 22? What are you going to do? On that fourth and 22 play, I love Ryan Williams to death, but if you secure that block, you get the first down. We can’t live in a world where it is I just want to make the game-winning catch or make the game-winning highlight. Sometimes, you have to play the dirty play or the game-changing block, or be the game-changing decoy. Alabama is just missing a lot of key components that would make them a good football team.”
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People may not like what he is saying, but Harris is a two-time national champion. He played on teams that had all the ingredients to win a championship. Harris knows the sacrifices that it takes to win at the highest level, and he is not seeing the commitment from his Alma mater. He also noted the struggles of Milroe and how the offense is not using its running backs.
Alabama has a chance this weekend to show the nation it has started a turnaround to this season against Missouri.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
