The leader was 35-40 meters ahead of Damien Harris on the track when Harris finally got the baton.

Harris and his team should have lost.

It was the final leg of a 4x100 meter relay while Harris, a sophomore running back at Alabama, was in high school. To win, Harris needed to run 100 meters before the leader ran another 60-65.

He did.

"It looked like the kid was halfway down the track," Harris' mother, Lynn, said. "Everybody (in the crowd) had their own things going on. They were cheering for their own team or whatever. But as people are watching it and seeing that he's closing the gap, it seemed like everyone in the stadium, their whole focus just shifted to that, and then everyone just started kind of cheering him on like, 'Well, maybe he can do it. He's closing the gap.' The cheers got louder and louder. And then when he got to the finish line, everyone was kind of holding their breath to see if he actually pulled it off. And when he did, everyone just erupted. It was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen."

Bo Scarbrough isn't Alabama's only very athletic, promising sophomore running back with a five-star background.

While the Tide loses Heisman winner Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, it has these two talented sophomores -- Scarbrough and Harris -- who are both former prized recruits with speed and other impressive physical traits that were shown during Alabama's spring testing in March.

Harris struggled as a freshman, averaging only 3.4 yards per carry as the No. 3 running back behind Henry and Drake. However, coach Nick Saban said recently, "I certainly see a more confident and knowledgeable guy in Damien this spring so far."

Harris will compete with Scarbrough for the starting job vacated by Henry. Even if he doesn't start, the Kentucky native is likely to play a significant role at running back.

"I think some young players are not really ready to take the responsibility of the role that some guys have an opportunity to take when they're freshmen," Saban said. "I think that the experience that Damien gained last year certainly helped his maturity in terms of what he needs to do to be a productive player and how he needs to compete at this level. I think he learned a lot of those things last year."

At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, Harris is one of Alabama's faster players.

His spring 40-yard dash time (4.40) was tied for fifth-best on the team, behind only cornerbacks Anthony Averett and Tony Brown and wide receivers Robert Foster and Calvin Ridley.

Only one running back ran faster than a 4.40 at this year's NFL scouting combine.

Harris' time was faster than even Drake, known for his speed and athleticism.

Drake ran a 4.45 at the combine after running two 4.44s last spring at Alabama. Great times. Just not as fast as Harris'.

In addition, Harris bench-pressed 375 pounds, squatted 495 pounds and posted one of the top vertical jumps on the team (35 inches).

Those physical gifts combined with the five-star ranking led to external expectations that were probably unrealistic and somewhat unfair, especially considering the significant jump in the level of competition after competing against a limited number of future college football players while in high school.

Harris was one of just five players from Kentucky in last year's recruiting class that Rivals ranked as a three-star recruit or better.

In comparison, there were 40 prospects from Alabama ranked by Rivals as three-star recruits or better, including 13 four- or five-star prospects.

"Last fall was a huge adjustment for him coming from a small town here in Madison County, Kentucky where a lot of kids don't see a whole lot of recruitment from this area," Lynn Harris said. "Plus, he had never been a practice player. He was always that kid that could just show up for the game and know what he had to do. Now going to Alabama where he's not 'the man' anymore, it's like, OK, now you need to show them that you can practice as well as show up on game day. They're not going to wait for you to show up on game day. They need to see you in practice.

"But coming out of the fall into the spring, I think it really has clicked with him, and he's made the decision, 'OK, I've really got to get out here and work hard and do what I've got to do.'"

The feedback has been positive.

Saban said last week that Harris had "done a really nice job" through Alabama's early spring practice sessions.

And despite any issues as a freshman, there were some good moments that -- like the high school track meet -- showed Harris' speed and ability.

Late in the Tide's win over Middle Tennessee, Harris got a toss to the right.

Harris eluded multiple defenders after breaking through the line of scrimmage before cutting back to the left side of the field and accelerating down the sideline as part of a 41-yard gain.

Following the run, one of the announcers -- former Heisman winner Andre Ware -- said of Harris, "That's a special young player who's going to play a lot of snaps here at Alabama."

"He's been learning how to do the things that will be required for him there that weren't required in high school and weren't taught in high school because he was so heavily depended on," Lynn Harris said. "He didn't really have to learn how to pass block (for example), and he's been learning how to do things like that and how he needs to move and operate when he's not getting the ball. Things of that nature. That's what he really needed to work on. And it seems like things are going pretty well for him."