Deconstructing Damien Harris: 3 coaches offer insight into how RB will fit with Patriots in 2019 and beyond

Byron Smoot was out of options.

His Madison Southern football team was getting beaten badly in its first scrimmage of the season a few years ago fall, so much so the running backs coach of the Berea, Kentucky high school team had one thought: Let’s give the freshman a shot. We’re not moving the ball much anyway.

That’s how a teenage Damien Harris first got on the field as a high schooler.

“His first touch, he takes it around the edge, cuts back, and literally breaks every angle the secondary had on him,” Smoot told BostonSportsJournal.com. “So we’re all like, ‘Wait, was that a fluke? So we give him the ball again, and damned if he didn’t do the same thing, cutting back and making guys miss

“That was the a-ha moment,” Smoot concluded. “From that point on, every time he got the ball in his hands, he was a threat to take it all the way. If he couldn’t out-run you, he would out-juke you.”

For Harris, a former and future teammate of quarterback Jarrett Stidham, that afternoon represented the first step on a high school journey that saw him finish with the second-most touchdowns in state history (122 total; 113 rushing) and the 11th-most rushing yards (6,748), and eventually become the Kentucky Gatorade High School Player of the Year in 2014.

That set the stage for a career at Alabama, where — while sharing snaps with the likes of Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs — the back managed to finish his four-year career with the Tide with a 6.4-yard per carry average, 3,070 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns. That’s in addition to 52 catches for 407 yards and a pair of scores, all while working in tandem with other backs for most of his time at Alabama.

Now, as he stands on the cusp of his professional career after being taken in the third round of the draft by New England, Harris' coaches from his past (Smoot and Nick Saban) and present (Ivan Fears) paint a picture of a back who sounds uniquely suited for the New England system, both from a mental and physical standpoint.

Saban said one of the reasons Harris was as productive as he was with Alabama for much of the last four years was his ability to thrive in what basically amounted to a platoon-type system.


“Damien played really well for us this year — he played really well for us in the past when he’s been healthy,” Saban said of Harris in 2017. “He makes good cuts, good decisions. Runs the plays the way they’re signed to be run, and he has good burst and good acceleration when there is an opening. He’s made more explosive runs for us than anybody else on our team.

“But the way he’s playing, the way we’re using the backs, is probably the best thing for our team. Maybe one of the reasons why he’s healthy and staying healthy and able to do what he’s doing is because we’re playing more guys at the position and he doesn’t have to play so many plays. I’d rather see him do that over the long haul of a season instead of running him 30 times in a game and then, all of a sudden, he’s not able to run at all.”



So where does Harris go from here? To Saban’s point, the fact the 5-foot-10, 216-pounder didn’t spend four years as the bell cow at Alabama could work in his favor. (By way of comparison, he had over 100 fewer college carries than James White, Sony Michel or Rex Burkhead.) He knows how to split carries, and work as a complementary piece of a larger offensive puzzle. Smoot certainly believes the platoon system he went through in college will help at the next level, for a few reasons, both from a mental and physical standpoint.

“I definitely think Damien hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of what he can do,” Smoot said. “I know while at Alabama he improved tremendously when it came to his pass blocking — he only allowed one sack when it came to his last year at Alabama. That skill is big.

“But the fact he platooned a lot when he was in college, he really has a lot of tread on his tires. I don’t think he’s been injured, or really even has anything nagging at him. He’s a weapon Tom Brady will love,” he added.

“He just needs to go in and learn from those guys, like when he went to Alabama and sat behind Derrick Henry. Just know what’s expected of you, and keep that humble attitude. He’s going to learn and develop, and I really think he could become one of the better backs New England has ever had.”

For what it’s worth, he’s been in New England for almost a month, but to this point, he’s impressed Fears.

“He looks great,” Fears told BSJ when asked about Harris. “I met him after the draft for the first time — he’s a great kid. Hard working son-of-a-gun. Has the kind of attitude we love. He’s all business. I think he loves the game, which is important to me — that he loves what he’s doing. And that’s going to give him a chance. We’ll see a lot of the other stuff, but the stuff he’s done so far, the way he’s handled himself … he’s got some of that maturity. That maturity and that passion, that’s the kind of stuff we’re looking for.”