Alabama, Michigan QB commits weigh in on Najee Harris' future
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Najee Harris spent most of his week in San Antonio dodging reporters and media functions all the while becoming one of the most talked about stories at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Harris has been committed to Alabama since April of 2015, but conflicting reports as to whether he’s on his way to Tuscaloosa following Saturday’s game have cast doubt as to if he’s maintaining that commitment at all. (Harris will enroll early at the college of his choice.) At one point, the prevailing thought was that he would simply show up at whichever school he’d chosen and the world would all find out at once. That still may be the case, but first it seems as though he’s making one last trip back home to California for one more look at his options.
The expectation is that Michigan is the likely destination if Harris doesn’t keep his commitment to Alabama, .
Harris was one of just two Alabama commits at the Army game this week along with quarterback commit Tua Tagovailoa, who played on the East team.
Tagovailoa spoke about Harris’ situation in a somewhat subdued tone, but it sounds as though he at least has some idea about what’s to come with him. The two were initially supposed to be on the same flight to Birmingham following the game.
“I’ve been able to talk to him about things,” Tagovailoa said. “As far as me telling anybody else anything about him, he just wants to keep it down. He’s just getting so many phone calls and you know Najee, he doesn’t like the attention, so I just have to respect his wishes.”
Michigan quarterback commit Dylan McCaffrey didn’t arrive in San Antonio until after the first West team practice. Despite the possibility of adding Harris to his backfield, he said that he hasn’t been involved in working on nudging him to flip.
“He’s not announcing, I know he’s tired of everyone asking,” McCaffrey said. “He hasn’t really mentioned anything to me, but of course I’d love it if he was at Michigan. He’ll make any team better that he’s on.”
A recurring sentiment among the players during the week was the collective fatigue from answering questions about their potential commitments. Answering questions about others’ plans can be an even dicier proposition.
While Harris often refused interview requests and is clearly not interested in the attention associated with his recruitment, he wasn’t shy about peacocking around at practices throughout the week and during the game. His day at the Army Bowl was done by halftime, and he finished the game with eight carries for 22 yards.
