Only four Power Five conference running backs ran for 1,000 yards last year while averaging seven or more yards per carry.

Damien Harris was one of them.

Yet, despite being a former five-star recruit who plays for one of the top-ranked teams in the country, Alabama's junior running back probably still doesn't get the credit he deserves nationally.

The Kentucky native wasn't among the six running backs selected to the media's preseason All-SEC team and wasn't even ranked among the top 25 running backs in the nation by the Sporting News.

Nonetheless, Harris will surely be a factor at running back for the Crimson Tide once again, even with preseason second-team All-SEC selection Bo Scarbrough back and with Alabama having some talented young running backs such as sophomore Josh Jacobs and five-star freshman Najee Harris.

"Damien has played a lot of good football for us," coach Nick Saban said of Harris, who ran for 1,040 yards last year with four total touchdowns. "He's a very talented guy. He's a rare combination of make-you-miss, burst, acceleration, speed. Has enough power as a player. He's a good receiver. Damien's biggest thing is, how do we get him to play with consistency at a high level all the time? There's times that he's battled some nagging injuries. And last year, he had some phenomenal games early, got a little bit nicked up and never really came back the same. We know he has the capabilities to be a dominant player for us, and hopefully he can stay healthy this year and be able to do that. But we have a lot of faith, trust and confidence in Damien Harris."

Harris is probably a better athlete than most outside the Alabama program realize.

The 5-foot-11 Harris, who is up to 221 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.40 seconds during the Tide's spring testing last year. That was tied for the fifth-best time on the team.

During Alabama's spring testing this year, Harris ran the 40 in 4.51 seconds while also bench-pressing 405 pounds, squatting 515 pounds and posting one of the top vertical jumps on the team.

Harris ran for 86 yards or more seven times last year despite his season-high for carries being just 17. He ran for a season-best 144 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries during Alabama's comeback win over Ole Miss and accounted for a season-best 182 total yards (122 rushing and 60 receiving) along with a touchdown in the Tide's win over Arkansas.

Including Harris, Alabama returns three running backs who ran for at least 564 yards last year and adds Najee Harris as well as fellow highly-ranked freshman Brian Robinson. That's why the competition for playing time at running back will be so intense and interesting when the Tide begins fall camp in August.

"There's a lot of competition at that position and there's only one ball, so they can't all run it at the same time," Saban said. "But I think it's a challenge for each one of those guys to develop. And fortunately for us, we have some guys at that position who are different styles of players, which makes it easier to create roles for those players. And hopefully the competition is going to make each and every player better. It's obviously a position that has the shortest shelf life in the NFL because of injuries, so to have depth at that position could be something that is beneficial to our team long-term. And, certainly, I hope every player recognizes that and can stay focused on doing what they need to do to play the next play and continue to improve and get ready for when their opportunity presents itself."

Scarbrough is widely-ranked as one of the top NFL prospects among running backs eligible for the 2018 NFL draft.

And while he wasn't on the media preseason All-SEC team and isn't mentioned as one of the top running backs in the nation on some lists like the one from the Sporting News, Harris is apparently already on the NFL radar as well.

In May, Bleacher Report NFL draft analyst Matt Miller ranked Harris as the 10th-best NFL prospect among running backs eligible for next year's NFL draft and, probably fittingly, labeled him as the "biggest sleeper" among draft-eligible running backs.