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GADSDEN CITY, Ala. – There are eight letters in redshirt, but at the local YMCA – at least in Jerrell Harris' little corner of it - redshirt is a four-letter word.

At the stroke of 7 a.m. last Thursday, with half of Gadsden, Ala., still slumbered, the Alabama football signee pulled into the YMCA parking lot off Walnut Street for the last time before heading off to UA. The sign in the lobby insists that members sign in at the front desk, but Harris walks right by it.

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Alabama's Jerrell Harris (5) had scholarship offers as far away as Southern Cal.

<!-- End Image-->The five years of sweat that he's left there, apparently, is enough of a signature.

He's beaten most of the morning workout crowd to the weightroom, but he hasn't beaten his personal trainer, Kenton Wright. Around five years ago, as Harris was entering the eighth grade, Wright drove the youngster to the Y and signed him up. From the time the 14-year-old Harris first scratched his name on the registration until now, the goal for he and Wright hasn't changed: Outwork everyone.

With guidance from Wright, mother Benita, and a third key mentor - Gadsden City High defensive coordinator Ali Smith – Harris' path to being a nationally-coveted football prospect was a strict one.

"It's been a mission more than a goal, and for a long time," Harris said.

Wright is a cousin of Harris' stepfather, but his interest in the 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker goes beyond family.

More than 20 years ago, Wright was the backup running back at Gadsden's Emma Sansom High behind future Alabama star Gene Jelks. On a 15-0, state-championship squad loaded with the likes of Jelks, ex-Alabama All-American Larry Rose and ex-Auburn receiver Freddy Weygand, it was easy for the backups – no matter how talented – to get discouraged. Wright had skills, but the spotlight belonged to Jelks.

"I didn't have someone who really pushed me," Wright said.

Wright walked on at East Mississippi Community College and made the team, but was offered just half a scholarship. With his father recently laid off by Goodyear, Wright didn't want to put the pressure of half tuition on his dad. So he passed on the college dream and took a job with Gulf State Steel in Gadsden. Years later, a semi-pro team called the Alabama Raiders launched in Gadsden. Wright beat out a host of running backs for the starting job – backs who had gotten the college chance he didn't get. He played one year – just long enough to prove a point to himself - and walked away. He couldn't recall the name of the league, but it didn't matter then any more than it matters now.

"It was just a closer for me," Wright said.

Now skip ahead more than a decade - to the day Harris approached Wright about being his workout partner - and the right match was made. The two pushed iron until the kid who looked like a basketball player began to look more like a football player. Even as a senior, Harris admits, he weighed just 206 pounds. But there was no let-up after signing day, and he's now up to 222.

When Alabama sent a book detailing a workout to prepare for the coming season, it was followed to the letter from the day it was received. And as if that weren't enough, Harris said he has been making occasional trips to Tuscaloosa over the last couple of months to meet with coaches and get a head start on learning the defensive scheme.

"It's been helpful," Harris said. "They are going to start me out at the Sam [strongside] position, so I've talked to coach [Lance] Thompson some. Just trying to get some of the concepts down."

Long before Wright ever introduced Harris to the inside of a weightroom, he knew plenty about the meaning of discipline. Benita Harris taught him to walk the line for authority from a young age.

"I've always told him to put God first, and remember he'll never get too big for me to whoop," she said.

Smith's role has been no small one, either. Last summer when Harris wanted to check out for himself a handful of schools that were dangling scholarship offers, Smith gassed up the car. In less than two weeks, they wheeled to Clemson, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Alabama. One of Gadsden City's next major recruits, Dre Kirkpatrick, will attend the Texas Longhorns football camp this weekend. But after driving all over the South last year with Harris, Smith arranged air travel this time around.

"When you add in the [UnderArmour All-Star] trip to Orlando, I think we drove about 8,500 miles," Smith said. "It put a [financial] dent in us, but Jerrell is worth whatever price."

Smith coached Harris at Emma Sansom for his freshman and sophomore seasons before a school consolidation landed both at Gadsden City High. He knew Harris' future was on defense when he dropped two touchdown passes on consecutive plays as a freshman. But it wouldn't be long before #5 – the jersey Harris says he'll wear at Alabama – was making plays everywhere on the other side of the ball.

Both Smith and Titans head coach Joe Billingsley recount the same night when asked about the most impressive play they ever saw Harris make. Last season, on a quarterback option against Clay-Chalkville, Harris tackled the quarterback to force the pitch, then got up, gave chase and made a downfield tackle on the running back.

In a playoff game against Spain Park last year, Harris pushed Billingsley for a fake-punt call that the Titans had worked on during the week. Harris blocked the wrong man and Spain Park stuffed the play.

"He comes off the field and says, 'I'll get it back, coach.' Three plays later, he intercepts a ball and runs it for a touchdown," Billingsley said. "That's who he is. He'll play reckless and make some mistakes, but he'll make far more big plays than errors."

Then there was the tackle on a kickoff return against Etowah that began creating a cyber-buzz about Harris when a clip of it hit the internet (see here).

"He Supermanned him," Billingsley said. "It was the best lick I've seen in a long time."

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	Jerrell Harris doesn't just plan to compete for a job when he fall practice opens at Alabama - he plans to win one.

<!-- End Image-->Despite being just two hours from Tuscaloosa, however, Harris' signing with Alabama was anything but a certainty. There was no childhood loyalty to draw from, because he had grown up cheering for Florida State and Miami at a time when those programs were annual residents in the AP's top five. Former Auburn assistant coach Will Muschamp had, at one time, the strongest relationship of any coach recruiting him. And Harris' official visit to Southern Cal was anything but a joyride.

"He almost pulled the trigger for Southern Cal," Smith said. "That was no joke. He loved it."

Harris kept to himself through most the recruiting process, and did not make an announcement until national signing day. In the end, the relationship UA coach Nick Saban built with both player and mother were crucial factors.

"When a coach gains the trust of a mother, that goes a long way," Smith said. "She felt like Jerrell would be taken care of."

Yet not even Harris' own mother was in on the signing-day announcement.

"I asked him the night of the Super Bowl, and he didn't want to talk about it," Benita Harris said. "I told him God would let him know where he belonged, then I left it alone. I didn't find out until he said it in front of everybody. All the people at my work kept saying, 'Come on, you know,' but I didn't."

Harris didn't have much to say when he and Wright moved his things to Tuscaloosa on Sunday, either. But on the drive back to Gadsden, Wright got the following text message: "Thanks again for everything. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I love you like a father, a cousin, brother, an uncle and a best friend. - BamaBoy #5."

And with that, the mission Wright shared with Harris for five years became Harris' alone. A couple of months ago, Wright vowed not to shave or cut his hair until Harris makes his on-field debut.

"I might take my clippers to Atlanta and do it right out there on the field," Wright said.

It should make for quite a barber job even if Harris sees his first career action when Alabama opens the season against Clemson Aug. 30. If not, it grows at least one more week. So if Harris takes a redshirt, look for a pretty scary-looking guy circling Bryant-Denny Stadium before the 2009 opener.

No wonder redshirt is a four-letter word.