A quick look at Najee Harris told Marcus Malu all he needed to know.

The trainer whose spent countless hours training Alabama's rising sophomore running back had to admit he was impressed.

"Damn, boy," he said during Harris' spring break trip home to California. "You look like a straight man right now."

The tone of his visit was considerably different from the last one, Malu told AL.com. His star client had developed physically and emotionally in the few months since flying home after the national championship. Harris had a bounce back in his step and was ready to work.

After a quick pit stop at Disneyland, Harris spent a few days at Malu's gym. Workouts range from 90 minutes to an hour, 45 minutes. The former No. 1 running back recruit is famous for his grinding work ethic paired with natural ability. Malu said he'd regularly get texts from Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran about the work Harris was doing back in Tuscaloosa.

Midway through his second spring at Alabama, Harris is a long way from where he was in January.

Malu remembers the trip home Harris took after the national championship game. A few nights earlier, he got a FaceTime call from a celebrating Harris the night of the win. It was 4 a.m. Atlanta time when the running back's face appeared on his coach's phone. He was happy after playing a crucial role in the win over Georgia -- a team-high 64 rushing yards on six carries. With the Tide needing a touchdown late, Harris was the running back on the field.

The celebratory shine had faded when Harris landed in California. Taking time to look at his role Year 1 left some disappointment.

"He took it hard because he felt like they could have given him more reps but he understood it's part of the process," Malu told AL.com. "You have to go through the process and you're not going to a small university that doesn't have great backs. You're going to the best of the best."

Harris had the third-highest rushing total among Alabama running backs as a freshman. He totaled 370 yards on 61 attempts (6.1-yard average) with three touchdowns. Most playing time came later in lopsided games mostly because of the stacked backfield Alabama already had in place.

Junior Damien Harris was coming off a 1,000-yard season and Bo Scarbrough had a breakout postseason. Both were also five-star guys when they got here, too, and neither produced rookie-year numbers like Najee Harris did. Sophomore Josh Jacobs was also in the mix after a strong freshman season.

"He was like 'I just thought they were going to give me a shot,'" Malu said. "I said they're always going to give you a shot but you have to understand it's part of the business. It's a business now. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like it if Saban brought in another five-star without having to prove himself."

None of this came as a surprise to the elite recruit. Michigan was the top contender next to Alabama for Harris' services and the depth chart was not quite as daunting. No Wolverine last season rushed for more than Karan Higdon's 994 on 164 attempts.

"With him, he likes the competition," Harris' high school coach John Lucido said in a 2016 interview with KTVU-TV. "The best running backs go to Alabama and that's what he wants to be. That's where he sees the competition and that's where he wants to go."

Malu said Harris didn't consider transferring in the midst of his disappointment. He just needed a few days to get his head back in the right place.

"'You chose to go here for a purpose so you have to finish it," Malu told him. "'Nobody remembers you didn't play last year. All they remember is the second half, you came in and you did what you're supposed to do. That's all they remember. So, take a few days and get your mind right but at the same time, you're back on that plane and you're going back.'"

There were still a few moments to remember from the first season. Game 2 saw Harris run for a team-high 70 yards on 13 runs against Fresno State. Two weeks later, he hit that same yardage total with one of his recognizable hurdles in the historic blowout of Vanderbilt.

The freshman just wasn't part of the early-game rotation that included mostly Damien Harris, Scarbrough and Jacobs when he was healthy.

Malu saw a positive in it: A chance to work his way into the mix without the heavy production that comes with being a feature back. He rushed for nearly 8,000 yards in high school, and that takes a toll.

"It was a good year for him to actually mature mentally," Malu said, "because when you have a five-star kid that never sat, it's hard sometimes, it's hard sometimes to believe back in their ability because they're like 'Why didn't I get to play?' You just have to understand, you have to keep working. That's why I said he matured because even though he took it hard a little bit, he was like 'I'm just going to keep working.' That's the biggest thing I see from him."

The depth chart is only slightly different for Year 2.

Scarbrough left early for the NFL while Damien Harris made the somewhat surprising decision to come back for his senior season. He's coming off consecutive 1,000-yard seasons while Jacobs showed promise (46 carries, 284 yards) while fighting injuries.

Saban likes what he's seen from Harris in the first half of Alabama's spring practice schedule.

"I think Najee has a little more confidence and knowledge of how to do things, what to do, pass-protection, doing things on a consistent basis," Saban said. "He works really hard, he plays with great toughness. And I think he has great intangibles as a player. Just the repetitions and the confidence that he has and knowing what he's supposed to do and how he's supposed to do it is probably the biggest thing that I see that's helped his consistency and his performance."

Those legendary workouts with Malu count for something too.

Over spring break, they focused mostly on explosion -- power was well taken care of in Tuscaloosa -- and shoring up the hamstrings. Malu was encouraged by this visit from his star pupil.

"It was good to see he was in a happy mood," Malu said. "He was back to his old self.

"I said, alright, let's go."

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter

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