STARKVILLE, Miss. — Najee Harris had a heck of a game Saturday.
The Alabama junior running back had 88 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries and caught three passes for 51 yards and another touchdown in the Crimson Tide’s 38-7 win against Mississippi State.
But he was in no mood to talk to the media afterward.
His thoughts were with teammate Tua Tagovailoa, who exited the game late in the second quarter with a hip injury. The Crimson Tide quarterback was taken off the field in a cart and airlifted to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham.
According to a report, first published by Aaron Suttles at The Athletic, Tagovailoa is out for the remainder of the season with “a dislocated hip with a posterior wall fracture.”
“I’m just hurt that our quarterback got hurt,” Harris said. “I’m not in the mood to be answering questions to be honest. That’s why I’m giving short answers, not to be rude to anybody; I’m just not in any mood to answer questions right now.”
Tagovailoa, who was gimpy following last week’s game with LSU, was a game-time decision for Saturday’s game. He underwent a tightrope surgery on his ankle, which he injured against Tennessee a month ago, and played the entire game against LSU last week.
“We took him out in pregame and worked him out and he was good, at least as good as he was a week ago in terms of his ability to move,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “I didn’t think anything he did affected his performance in this game in the first half. The guy played and I thought he played really well. He got injured, I hate it for him and I hate it for his family that he got injured. God speed to him and his family and our thoughts and prayers are with him and hope that this is not so serious that it has any long-term affect on his future.
“It’s going to be evaluated. I don’t think it’s related to any other injury he has. It was kind of a freak thing that you seldom see. I don’t have anything else to say about that.”
Tagovailoa was rolling out of the pocket with just under three minutes left until halftime and threw the ball away before taking a hit by two Mississippi State defenders.
After several minutes with the Alabama training staff by his side, Tagovailoa was helped to his feet and waited for a cart to take him off the field. He was later taken to St. Vincent’s in Birmingham for further evaluation.
