When you pick up the phone to answer a call from Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer about potentially joining his coaching staff, recruiting is typically a big reason he dialed your number.
If you don't have something to bring to the table on the recruiting trail, don't expect to be hearing from Meyer.
With that in mind, it makes complete sense Tony Alford — widely known as the recruiting point man at Notre Dame — saw his phone light up with a call from Meyer in February.
"When you do things in recruiting, you tell them the truth. Why did I move, why did I do what I had to do? And you tell them why and it’s the truth. As they look at things, I think in recruiting, I think guys have to understand what is that they aspire, what are they really looking for?" Alford said April 2. "Does Ohio State fit what they really aspire to have in their lives moving forward? So the messages are very similar, it’s just doing what’s best for you and your life.”
It's clear what Meyer and Alford were looking for — a stellar recruiter who is also an up and coming coach. Alford just so happens to have a history with Meyer, having played at Colorado State in one of the six seasons the latter was an assistant coach for the Rams.
While Alford's had plenty to take in schematically as the shiny new pawn in Meyer's scheme to defend the 2014 College Football Playoff National Championship, becoming Stan Drayton's replacement in the recruiting world is just as important.
"I look at recruiting and it's just about building relationships. If you have the ability to go in and the mindset of going in, I am who I am and when you go anywhere new it's like moving to a new neighborhood," Alford said. "It's like taking a new job. You walk in, it's a new place, you gotta make friends."
Drayton was big for Ohio State with his ties to Cleveland, mainly Glenville High School, so it makes sense for Alford to be the guy expected to pick up the slack in that area.
"I'm not really familiar right now. There's great football in the state, so I am going to get into the Cleveland area and there are some guys that I know that I'm going to have to build some relationships with in terms of high school coaches," Alford said. "I am looking forward to that and getting out and meeting all those guys and building those relationships."
"It's like taking a new job. You walk in, it's a new place, you gotta make friends."– Tony Alford, on acquiring a new recruiting region
Drayton was essential to bringing Detroit Cass Tech's Mike Weber to Ohio State as part of the 2015 recruiting class, so it's been Alford's job to make sure the star running back was still on board with the Buckeyes.
"Mike is a mature kid," Alford said. "He's going to be fine. I talked to Mike, and he was fine. I think a lot of people, a lot of media, was making it bigger than it really was."
Without question, Alford's been establishing those needed relationships with the high schools and coaches in Cleveland in his first three months on the job like Drayton built before heading to the Chicago Bears. Weber's preparing to make his way from Michigan to Columbus this summer. Alford also is set to focus on Central Florida, an area he's already familiar with his time at Notre Dame.
Needless to say, how Alford's fitting into Meyer's recruiting plans is just the way he wanted it when he made that phone call.
"I shouldn't say selling points, that's probably the wrong word, but there's a lot of things to present," Alford said. "This is a big presentation at Ohio State. You don't have to sell this place. It presents itself."
It does, and even though Drayton's success tutoring guys like Carlos Hyde and Ezekiel Elliott got him a pay raise, Alford's perfectly fine with the way he goes about his business.
"I’m not Stan Drayton, I know Stan and we’re friends, but I’m Tony Alford and I’m going to be the best Tony Alford I can be. That’s going to have to be good enough," Alford said. "Stan left some big shoe prints, no doubt, and my job here is just to come here and do the best I can for this football program."
