Nick Saban stepped down as Alabama’s coach on Wednesday after winning six national championships in 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide.

Bill Belichick stepped down as New England’s coach on Thursday after winning six Super Bowls in 24 seasons with the Patriots.

Nine players who were coached by Saban at Alabama then played for Belichick with the Patriots.

Running back Damien Harris led Alabama in rushing yards in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons before playing four seasons with New England, where he was the Patriots’ leading rusher in 2020 and 2021.

After the coaching announcements, Harris appeared on ESPN Radio’s “Marty and McGee” to talk about playing for Saban and Belichick.

“Once you really sit down and you think about the impact that these guys had,” Harris said, “not only on myself, but peers of mine, colleagues of mine, opponents of mine, my biggest rivals, just when you’ve seen the impact they’ve had on the entire game, once you really sit and start to process that, you’re looking at, ‘Man, we’re losing larger-than-life figures.’ It’s really caused me to sit and reflect on all the things that I’ve learned from these two great men and coach Saban in particular.

“I talked about being a husband; I’m about to be a father soon. Obviously, his coaching record and how he develops guys into pro football players — nothing that I’m going to say is going to do that any justice. But as a man, as a husband, as a soon-to-be father, as a man in my community and as somebody who just tries to be a good person day in and day out, I can take those lessons that coach Saban gave me. When I was 18 years old, I applied these lessons to being the best football player I can be. But now I can take those same lessons and apply them to being a man, a husband, just a great human being. I said it on social media: I’m truly a better man, not only a better football player, but I’m a better man because of coach Saban.”

Harris’ four seasons with New England rank as the second-most among the nine players, behind the nine seasons of linebacker Dont’a Hightower.

After Saban’s announcement, Hightower said on social media: “Enjoy retirement, Nicky my boy! Hell of a damn coaching career. Thanks for helping so many young men reach their goals and dreams.”

The other Saban/Belichick players have been defensive tackles Christian Barmore and Brandon Deaderick, linebackers Anfernee Jennings and Mack Wilson, quarterback Mac Jones, cornerback Cyrus Jones and tight end Michael Williams.

After joining New England in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Harris played in only two games as a rookie. He became the Patriots’ starting running back in 2020, but injuries caused him to miss six games. After rushing for 929 yards in 15 games in 2021, Harris missed six games again in 2022.

Harris joined Buffalo in free agency during the offseason, but he won’t be on the field when the Bills play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the AFC playoffs at 3:30 p.m. CST Monday.

On Oct. 20, Harris was tackled by linebacker Bobby Okereke on his first carry of Buffalo’s game against the New York Giants. Harris did not get up after the 1-yard gain, and players from both teams waved urgently for help from the sidelines.

After being attended to, Harris was strapped to a backboard and loaded into an ambulance on the field at Highmark Stadium to be carried to Erie County Medical Center.

Harris entered the NFL’s concussion protocol, and later in the week, Buffalo placed the running back on injured reserve, and Bills coach Sean McDermott said Harris had a neck sprain.

Harris remains on injured reserve.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.