WATCH: Najee Harris hurdles over defender in preseason matchup vs Lions
Pittsburgh Steelers’ star running back Najee Harris is a pretty freakish athlete. That’s pretty much a well-known fact at this point. On Sunday, he showed off his incredible athleticism yet again against the Detroit Lions, when former Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Saivion Smith lowered his helmet to tackle him. Harris said not so fast, and hurled completely over him in the air, making Smith completely whiff on the tackle.
Check it out.
Hurdling defenders in mid-air is a pretty high-risk maneuver, but plenty of players continue to do it. If the timing of the jump is off in the slightest, that’s going to be a brutally painful collision. Luckily for Harris and Pittsburgh fans, today’s version ended up just fine.
The Alabama product was a workhorse for Pittsburgh with 1,667 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns last season. He was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie because of his outstanding production.
Najee Harris was simply incredible for the Alabama Crimson Tide
Harris was the top running back selected in the 2021 NFL Draft for a reason. He put together an incredible body of work at Alabama for the Crimson Tide offense. After all was said and done, Harris plastered his name all over the record books in Tuscaloosa, cementing his name with some of the all-time greats in Tide history.
He racked up 3,843 career rushing yards at Alabama, leaving Tuscaloosa as the school’s all-time leading rusher. Keep in mind, Alabama has had such gifted running backs as former Heisman Trophy winners Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram suited up for them. Harris’ 4,624 career all-purpose yards currently rank him second in Alabama football history.
The California native recorded 13 games of 100-plus rushing yards or more in his college career, including six games in his junior season and six games in his senior season. He was the Doak Walker Award winner in 2020, the award given to the nation’s top running back. Harris was also a unanimous first-team All-American selection his senior season.
He was instrumental in helping guide the Crimson Tide to the 2020 national championship. PFF’s Zach Tantillo stated he thought the Alabama offense during the 2020 season was the best offense ever seen under Nick Saban at Alabama.
They’ll kick off the regular season against the defending AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Sept. 11. Kickoff for that one is slated for 1:00 p.n. EST and the game will be nationally televised on CBS.
On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this article.