Former Alabama Crimson Tide running back Damien Harris recently revealed a unique moment he had with his former coach, Nick Saban. At the 2025 SEC Media Day on Monday, July 14, Harris was asked to talk about his collegiate football mentor. Alabama Crimson Tide on AL.com’s Instagram handle shared the video.
Harris recalled that he had made a blunder, forcing Saban to snub him, which he said had never happened before. The Richmond, Kentucky, native added that it is his best story under the tutelage of Saban, as he played for him from 2015 to 2018.
“ I’m gonna give you my best Nick Saban story. It’s not funny. It’s not a joke. This is what Nick Saban is about. My senior year, we played Tennessee on the road. The only time in my four years at Alabama that I was late to anything was before this Tennessee game. On the Friday before, we do our meetings, we go through a little walkthrough,” Harris reminisced.
Harris added that he overslept and was late to the Friday meeting. He had informed a few team members about it and even asked them how to sneak in. The 28-year-old said no one should be late to a meeting with Nick Saban. The former player found it a little weird that Saban did not talk to him that day.
Harris revealed what happened the next day, saying:
“Then you get to Saturday and right before we go out for warmups and stuff, coach Saban comes up to me and he’s like, ‘I know you were late yesterday. Because of that, we’re gonna have to go with the other guy, Josh Jacobs. Your job is to just be a cheerleader.'”
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Damien Harris played as a running back for the New England Patriots in the NFL from 2019 to 2022 before capping his career off with the Buffalo Bills in 2023. He has since become an analyst for CBS Sports.
Damien Harris Shares Life Lesson he Learned After Nick Saban Snubbed him
In the same interview at 2025 SEC Media Day, Damien Harris revealed what happened after his then-coach, Nick Saban, elected to play Josh Jacobs against the Tennessee Volunteers.
“He was like, ‘I want you to understand this isn’t because you were late. It was because you didn’t come talk to me about it, because you didn’t take ownership of your mistake because you didn’t have the self-accountability to come look me in the face and tell me, ‘Hey coach, I was late,’ as somebody who ended up being a permanent captain,'” Harris said.
Saban punished him for his lack of accountability and not for being late. Harris concluded by saying that he made a point to always keep in mind that if his coaches and mentors told him that there are life lessons in football, despite it being a sport, they are telling the truth.
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