Former Alabama football RB Damien Harris blasts Malachi Moore meltdown, Kalen DeBoer

Former Alabama football running back Damien Harris minced no words Sunday about Alabama’s 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt on a podcast with The Athletic, specifically taking aim at team captain and starting safety Malachi Moore for his outburst in the final minute of the game.

With Vanderbilt running out the clock for the win, Moore hit Commodores QB Diego Pavia late after a first-down run, then slung his mouthpiece and kicked the football after it had been spotted by officials to draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He also seemingly waved off defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s attempt to substitute him out of the game.

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“No. 13, Malachi Moore, brother, I don’t know you. I’m not trying to disrespect you. But what you did last night on that football field was complete and utter (expletive). You are a two-time captain. Somebody who has your hand and footprint in Denny Chimes. How did you show up yesterday?,” Harris said. “The only thing I remember seeing from you is slamming the guy’s head on the ground unnecessarily. Punching yourself, throwing your mouthpiece. Not even in a way of, like, OK, nobody’s looking. Like, ‘I’m bigger than the game. I’m bigger than the team. I’m bigger than this moment. Like, everybody look at me. Look at how pissed off I am. Look at what I got to say about it. Let me pick up a ridiculous 15-yard penalty for no apparent reason.’ And you call yourself a two-time captain?”

Moore was a captain of Alabama’s 2023 SEC Championship team, and was named a 2024 captain in the preseason by new coach Kalen DeBoer. Harris, retired from the NFL and now a CBS Sports analyst, had words not only for Moore, but for DeBoer as well.

“I’m gonna tell you exactly why he feels like he can act like that. You go and look at what Kalen DeBoer said in his postgame press conference about Malachi Moore. ‘Oh, well he’s one of our guys, and he’s one of our leaders. Yeah, we expect him to use this and only bring positivity the rest of the season.’ Man, damn that!,” Harris said. “What’s up with that? Nick Saban would have said that? No! That’s (expletive). That don’t help you win games. That does not help you control the talent and the level of guys that you’ve never coached before, guys that you’ve never had experience with, at a program that you don’t know what it takes to win these kinds of games. You just come in here and try to be everybody’s buddy-buddy. Try to be everybody’s friend. Well what does that get you? That gets you beat against Vandy on the road.”

Harris won two national championships and three SEC championships during his career at the Capstone. He rushed for 2,779 yards and 21 touchdowns over four seasons at UA from 2015-2019.

“I can tell you what would have happened in the days that I was there. We would have tried to rip the ‘C’ off his jersey. We would have lit him up,” Harris said. “From every coach, every player, Reuben Foster, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Da’ron Payne, Jalen Hurts, Jerry Jeudy, everybody would have been on this dude’s head, like we don’t do that.”

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.