The Pittsburgh Steelers chose running back Alabama running back Najee Harris as their 1st round draft pick.
Harris hails from Alabama University and is the 24th pick overall. Harris played for Alabama as a running back. His career stats were 638 attacking yards, 8,343 total yards, and 46 rushing touchdowns (57 in total).
Hours before being drafted Harris held a party at the homeless shelter he grew up in.
“I wanted to make sure that I could give back to the community and show them if y’all still need anything — I’m never too big or too whatever to help you guys out, I’m always going to be the helping hand,” Harris told reporters.
Harris frequently donates to the shelter, according to one Steeler fan watching the draft.
Who is Najee Harris
With Harris’s success in making it to the NFL draft, he and his family held a draft party at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program shelter. The place he and his family called home for several years.
“It was really emotional for my mom,” Harris said to KRON 4’s Kylen Mills. “Almost as if she was crying in a way. We have a lot of memories here. That was a time in our life when we were really low at a point. It brought back a lot of memories of what we were going through at the time, for me too.”
Before football, Harris lived with his mother and four siblings in a tiny room at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program shelter. Kathleen Sullivan, the organization’s executive director, told CBS San Francisco, “His mother was instrumental in getting him and all those children through what would normally be the most horrific experience of their lives.”
Many outlets noticed Harris’s back story and predicted that he would be a “special pick to whichever team he goes to”
See you soon in Pittsburgh Najee. Welcome to the Steelers!