Alabama Football: Najee Harris return makes 2020 Crimson Tide unfair

Najee Harris could have been one of the top running backs in the 2020 NFL Draft but he’s returned to Alabama football for one more season — not fair.

Do you remember when Madden used to have cheat codes that you could unlock to use in games? Well, Alabama just became its own cheat code on Wednesday as Najee Harris announced his return to Tuscaloosa for one more season, passing up early entry in the NFL draft.

With his return, Harris joins Alex Leatherwood, Devonta Smith and Dylan Moses as guys who could have been selected early in the 2020 NFL Draft but decided to come back for one last year with the Crimson Tide.

It’s almost unfair at this point.

Harris finished the 2019 season with 1,224 yards and 13 touchdowns on 5.9 yards per carry. Although his yards per touch was a career-low, he nearly doubled his carries with sole possession of the backfield and Josh Jacobs off to the NFL. He looked the part of an every-down back and surpasses 2,300 yards for his career.

With one more year at Alabama, he’ll approach 4,000 career yards as I believe he’ll be one of the nation’s top running backs — if not the top running back.

In past years, Alabama would have lost all of these guys to the draft, but there’s something about falling short of expectations that have these kids all hungry for more. They don’t want to be looked at as finishing their careers on a disappointing note and then bolting for the NFL.

Harris, Smith, Jaylen Waddle and Mac Jones will lead one of the most prolific offenses in college football next season and they just got even more hungry.

Alabama is out for revenge and college football is in trouble.