Nick Saban walked up to Damien Harris right before Alabama football went out for warmups.

The Crimson Tide was about to face Tennessee in 2018, and Saban broke the news to his starting running back.

We’re going to have to play the other guy today. Your job is just to be a cheerleader.

That week, Harris had been late to a meeting. So he wasn’t shocked that Josh Jacobs was getting the start instead.

Saban started to walk away, then he turned around and looked at Harris.

I want you to understand this isn’t because you were late. It isn’t because you made a mistake. It’s because you didn’t come talk to me about it. You didn’t take ownership of your mistake.

“That was one of the most powerful moments to me because that was when I started to realize truly … coaches always talk about these are life lessons,” Harris told AL.com as part of the Beat Everyone podcast. “These aren’t football lessons. You hear that in little league, you hear that in middle school, high school, etc. That was the first time in my life I felt like I was learning a life lesson through football.”

Harris had been late to a Friday meeting, what he said was the first and only time he was late to a meeting. He overslept. Then, he told some people he was going to be late because he didn’t know the best way to handle it.

“The No. 1 thing you don’t do is walk into a Nick Saban meeting late,” Harris said. “They told me, ‘Listen just come in. Lay low. We’ll figure it out from there.’”

Harris never talked to Saban that day, though.

“I’m like, OK, this is weird,” Harris said. “Then you get to Saturday.”

That’s when Saban removed Harris from the starting lineup, who would become a captain that season.

Being that guy and not coming to talk to me about that, I felt like that was a lack of accountability. Because of that, I feel like you should be punished. Not because you made a mistake, but because you just didn’t have any accountability. You didn’t own up to it.

“I tell people this story all the time,” said Harris, now a CBS Sports analyst. “It’s not funny. It’s not a joke. This is what Nick Saban is about.

“Football is a vehicle to teach us how to live our lives a certain way. How to have a certain level of discipline, a certain level of respect, detail orientation, that will benefit us long after we’re done playing football. That for me was an ‘ah-ha moment’ for me.”

Beat Everyone is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on your favorite platform to automatically receive new episodes every Monday and Wednesday evening.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.