Damien Harris might not be the speed back Kenyan Drake was for Alabama. His 5-foot-11, 214-pound frame isn't quite Derrick Henry-level.

Yet Alabama's leading rusher's put together a big-play resume and an efficient 8.0-yard average. Harris is the most consistent wheel in a balanced rushing attack that actually has 610 yards more than last year's crew totaled through eight games.

The sophomore from Richmond, Kentucky averages 127 yards in the six games against Power 5 opponents. That came after being the second-most hyped running back preseason. Now, after beating Bo Scarbrough for top billing, Harris faces Leonard Fournette and No. 15 LSU at 7 p.m. Saturday in Baton Rouge.

Harris got there with his eyes as much as his feet.

"I don't care how talented you are with the ball in your hand," Nick Saban said, "if you don't have that instinctive vision to make those cuts at the right time, relative to setting up the blocks, reading the blocks, running off the blocks, I don't think you're going to be very productive. And Damien does that very well."

The examples are numerous from games like the Arkansas win. Harris broke a 57-yard run in the first quarter in Fayetteville running off tackle. There was no rush to the corner; Harris just allowed the blocks to develop before cutting back and allowing two down-field linemen to trip up would-be tacklers.

"I just try to set up my blocks," Harris said. "Pressing the read, just trying to make the defense do what I want them to do, that way I can create my own running lanes. That's something that we emphasize maybe the most as a group of running backs."

Given Alabama's reliance on the running game and LSU's proficiency in stopping it, that makes Saturday's trip to Tiger Stadium especially crucial. The Tigers (5-2) bring the nation's No. 13 rush defense into the showdown.

LSU's season-high rushing allowance was surrendered to Auburn, though those 154 yards checked in well below that offense's 303-yard season average.

So it'll be a test for the balanced running game also featuring quarterback Jalen Hurts and running backs Scarbrough and Josh Jacobs.

For Harris, the on-field instincts aren't something that anyone can just pick up.

"I mean, it's just skills like that, you have to have a running back," Harris said. "But you've never completely got it. Every day you have to work at it, no matter how good you are at it or how poorly you do."

Something's working. Harris' nine plays of 20-plus yards ranks second only to Calvin Ridley. Four of those covered 50-plus yards including a 56-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass at Arkansas.

Again on that play, Harris waited for blockers and slipped through tight creases for the big play.

"He makes the offensive line look right," said left guard Ross Pierschbacher. "He'll make a cut and if we don't have the guy blocked right he'll make us look right. It's fun for us. We don't have to be perfect, although we try to be, but our running backs definitely make us look good."

And his jump cut?

"I mean, not a lot of guys can do that," Pierschbacher said. "Just the way that he does and explodes. I mean, he's a special player and just a fun guy to be around and block for."

Alabama linebacker Rueben Foster just smiled when asked what it's like meeting Harris in a gap.

"Damien is just, we call him a pit bull because he's just stocky and short and he just drives through, run up under his pads," Foster said. "That's a great thing for him. He's a very special guy, very humble. Like he's driven."

And Harris is certainly a different player from a year ago.

Arriving as a five-star recruit, Harris saw little action behind the Heisman Trophy-winning Henry. His average carry covered just 3.4 yards in 46 attempts on reserve duty.

Saban said Harris was not unlike most freshmen who step on campus raw. It wasn't a lack of talent.

"I just think was not confident in what he was being asked to do," Saban said. "As this year has progressed, he's gotten more and more confident that he has a better understanding."

Harris acknowledged the game is slowing down from how it seemed a year ago. It helps in those precious seconds when he's mapping the field, positioning blockers and sketching a path to the painted grass.

"I mean, a lot of the times you can't take the first running lane that I see because it's not in the job description of the play," Harris said. "But you try to set up your own blocks and read the defense to the best of your ability.

"You try to take what the defense gives you and kind of make them do what you want them to do."