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Tony "Benedict" Alford (meh)

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“Well, I think that our track record speaks for itself,” Alford said. “Let’s also understand that this place is much, much, much bigger than (trying to get to) the NFL. That is a piece. But there are so many other pieces to help develop these players. We do talk about those things openly. Does the NFL come up? Absolutely it does, because that’s part of it. But to say that that is all of it or the main part of it, not for me it has not been. But we have had success at our position and all positions for that matter.

“And so, it does come up. But that’s not the selling point. Just like (wide receivers coach) Brian (Hartline) said, it’s about relationship building. If I’m a young man and his family, I’m thinking, ‘Do I want this man, this person, to coach my child? Do I want this person, this man, to put stuff into my child’s heart and mind every day?’ So, it’s about building a relationship where that family and that individual believes, ‘This is advantageous for my development and my growth as a player and as a person.’ And that’s what we harp on.

“But again, to be direct, does the NFL come up? Sure it does. But that’s not the end all, be all either.”
 
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RUNNING BACKS COACH TONY ALFORD
WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO USE TREY SERMON AND OTHERS?
Only three weeks after Master Teague suffered an Achilles injury, Alford went out and landed Sermon out of Oklahoma. The two had a relationship dating back to when Alford targeted him out of high school.

Now, they’ll reunite in Columbus for one year only.

As a graduate transfer, it’s assumed that Sermon will start. He rushed for more than 2,000 yards across three seasons as a Sooner before a knee injury left him available for only 385 yards and four touchdowns as a junior last year. Now healthy, he’s the elder statesman in a running back room beset by injuries and harmed by a couple of recruiting misses over the past few cycles.

How much the Buckeyes rely on Sermon remains in question, however. Will he be the sole back to take most of the meaningful carries? Will others – including Teague and Crowley, if healthy, along with Steele Chamber, Miyan Williams and Demario McCall – mix in to comprise a rotation? What would the split in carries look like?

Alford needs to determine how the backfield touches will shake out sooner than later.
 
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On The Trail

After taking a lot of heat for the way the 2020 recruiting cycle played out, Alford has bounced back in a big way in 2021, reminding everyone that he is still one of the best recruiters on this Ohio State coaching staff. So Alford’s work is pretty much finished in the 2021 class. His task right now with the seniors is to simply keep what he has in five-star TreVeyon Henderson and Top 100 prospect Evan Pryor.

This one-two punch is probably the best tandem of backs that any program will sign in the 2021 recruiting class and both backs seem ideal fits for an Ohio State system that is trying to incorporate its running backs more in the passing game. Both guys are more than adept in the passing game and are elusive open field runners in addition to being feature back types.

Alford’s biggest task on the recruiting trail right now is getting the table set for the 2022 class. Right now it is unclear if 2022 will be a one or two back class. A lot of that will depend on attrition this off-season either via NFL draft entry or transfer. If everything holds up (no surprise transfers or early entries) it is likely a situation where the Buckeyes can get away with taking just one back.

So Alford’s focus right now should be on getting a head start on the junior class and to begin to establish some type of pecking order. Right now, the Buckeyes seem very high on Shillington (Pa.) Governor Mifflin star Nick Singleton as well as College Park (Ga.) Woodward Academy product Damari Alston. Both prospects are early four-star guys who are off to promising starts to their junior seasons. Another prospect that the Buckeyes have been recruiting for a while is Fort Worth (Texas) Nolan Catholic’s Emeka Megwa.

Even though Megwa has already visited, it seems like Singleton and Alston might be the two that the Buckeyes sit the best with at this point within that trio. These national battles are never easy and all three of these guys have perennial powers within driving distance, but Alford has proven to be capable of winning these types of battles over the years.

Continuing to forge relationships with those players while scouring the nation for other talented underclassmen is a luxury that Alford has afforded himself by locking in two of the nation’s best in 2021 essentially a year early.
 
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Which is the worst?

1. Redshirting cantguardmike as a sophomore while everyone complains about the lack of production from receivers

2. Not giving Sermon a true chance until the game in which he set the tOSU rushing record.

3. An unsympathetic teacher saying the Albert Einstein would "never get anywhere"
http://www.albert-einstein.org/article_handicap.html

4. Not signing the Beatles to a recording contract

5. 12 publishers rejecting the original "Harry Potter".
 
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maximumblitz said:
Which is the worst?

1. Redshirting cantguardmike as a sophomore while everyone complains about the lack of production from receivers

2. Not giving Sermon a true chance until the game in which he set the tOSU rushing record.

3. An unsympathetic teacher saying the Albert Einstein would "never get anywhere"
http://www.albert-einstein.org/article_handicap.html

4. Not signing the Beatles to a recording contract

5. 12 publishers rejecting the original "Harry Potter".
Click to expand...

Monetarily I'm guessing the Beatles followed by Harry Potter. Sermon had chances and it isn't like he was ripping off monster runs like Nick Chubb was for the Browns while he was #2 behind Hyde. The tOSU running game was completely underwhelming before the B1G title game regardless of the back. How about drafting Corey Coleman and Emmanuel Ogbah when you could have had Mike Thomas and Derrick Henry?
 
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