Everything wasn't always peaches and cream between Najee Harris and Nick Saban at Alabama ... the former Tide star just revealed he and his former coach used to fight each other all the time during his four years at the school.
The Pittsburgh Steelers star broke it all down on "The Pivot" podcast Tuesday ... saying Saban belittled him often -- and he would push back every time he felt the head coach went too far.
"I'm not the type of dude to sit back and just let somebody talk to me in a way and expect me not to say something," Harris said during the interview with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor.
"I can take coaching, but, like, it's just a certain type of line when you cross, like all right, bro, I'm a man, you ain't gon' f***ing talk to me like that."
"Don't think you're more than just a coach to me. Don't try to belittle. I felt like I was belittled."
Najee -- who played for Saban from 2017 through 2020 -- said things between the two got so bad, he ended up leaving the school for a few weeks during his last year on campus.
"Last incident happened and I left school," Najee said. "I left school for like two weeks -- people didn't know that. I left school for like two weeks and then Saban sat me in his office."
Harris says they were able to clear the air for good during that 1-on-1 sesh, and "ever since that day, we was rock solid."
Seems the relationship -- however rocky it was -- worked out well for both parties ... they won two national titles together, and Harris went on to be taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.