The turning point in the relationship between Donovan Edwards and Tony Alford came more than a year ago.
Edwards put Alford in the proverbial hot seat and had a question he wanted an honest answer to. Instead of side-stepping the question or giving a non-answer answer, Alford looked Edwards literally right in the eyes and told him the truth.
“I asked him, ‘Are you ever gonna leave Ohio State?’” Edwards told Eleven Warriors. “He said, ‘If I ever got the opportunity to go to Colorado State, I'm going to take it.’ He said that straight up.”
When more recent rumors had begun picking up again that Alford may leave for Colorado State, the Buckeyes’ running backs coach again was honest with Edwards. It went a long way for the running back, and even if Alford were to have left for the Rams’ job, it made a positive reflection on Ohio State as a whole.
“I was like, ‘Coach I'll have you explain it to him,’” Ron Bellamy, Edwards’ head coach at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High School, told Eleven Warriors, referring to the rumors that Alford might be leaving Ohio State. “And Tony was great. He said, ‘Listen, if I get this job – I went there. It's different. I want this job.’”
It just takes one of those experiences – of a position coach that a recruit has bonded with possibly leaving for another job while not being forthcoming about possibly leaving – for a recruit to feel a bit bamboozled. Alford’s honesty opened Edwards’ eyes to that possibility, but in a good way, letting Edwards know his intentions.
“Tony’s doing an excellent job, and I said, ‘You’re gonna have to explain this to him. You’re gonna have this tough conversation with him if you get this job,’” Bellamy said. “Tony is a great guy. He's awesome. When Coach explained to him that had he gotten an opportunity to accept that job, that he was going to accept that job, that meant a lot to him.
“That’s that transparency when we talk about coaches. We asked those tough questions because ‘I'm going to this university because when I'm homesick, or I'm struggling in school or football – or whatever it is – and I feel a disconnect from my team, I should be able to sit in my position coach's room and let's see if we're still going to have those same life conversations.’”
Once Alford didn’t get the job with the Rams, he was again honest, telling Edwards and Bellamy, “After that, he said he was good," Bellamy said. “‘I make a lot of money at Ohio State. Coach Day’s a great man. I’m gonna finish my career in Columbus as long as he’s the head coach or as long as he allows me to.’”
“He said, ‘If I ever got the opportunity to go to Colorado State, I'm going to take it.’ He said that straight up.”– Donovan Edwards on Tony Alford
So that’s just a little bit of a behind-the-scenes as to why running back recruits and their head coaches respect Alford.
Another reason? He provides what Edwards calls “a breath of fresh air” because he gets to talk with Alford about things off the field.
“Most of the conversation isn't even about football. It's about life and family things,” said Edwards, whose mother passed away from breast cancer when Edwards was only 2 years old. “How close am I with my dad? How do I feel about the passing of my mom? How's my brother coping with it? Just stuff like that.
“We barely talk about football … I think our relationship is pretty strong. I told coach Bell that's probably the best coach I have a relationship with.”
Making a list, checking it several times
Whether it was Makari Paige, Cornell Wheeler, Sterling Miles or any of the other talented West Bloomfield standouts with multiple college offers who Bellamy has mentored over the years, the 10th-year Lakers head coach has each of them undergo the same strategy when it comes to choosing their future program.
He has them walk into one of West Bloomfield’s conference rooms, and on a white board with a dry erase marker, the player will write down the name of each school they are seriously considering and put together a “pros” and “cons” list. That way they can see for themselves what they like and don’t like, comparing them literally side by side to make an incredibly difficult decision at least a little bit easier.
“You're going to start eliminating schools based on how you feel about things because sometimes you have to put it on paper,” Bellamy said. “You see it, and you take a picture of it. You go home and you re-read it. Talk to your dad about it and come back.
“You've got seven? OK, you've eliminated three, and now you have four. Now take it down to three. Then take it down to two, and then you've got one.”
Just like any of those other players, that will be Edwards’ strategy when it comes time for him to narrow down his college options. The plan is for Edwards to narrow his list to seven or 10 schools by the end of March and a top five by May, and that’s when they will get down to the real nitty-gritty of chipping away until one school remains – that may be a long process, one that could even possibly stretch into December, even though a decision is more than likely coming much, much sooner than that.
“One thing I told him is don’t feel – and that might be the toughest part for Tony – don’t feel like you need to commit if you’re not ready,” Bellamy said. “You don't have to do it in the summertime. You don't. You have to do it by December, but you don't have to do it by summer time.”
What Bellamy hit on is something both he and Edwards have in the back of their minds (and it’s in the front of just about every Ohio State fan’s mind). There’s pressure on Alford to land a commitment from an elite-level running back, and if his top target (Edwards) doesn’t make a commitment sooner rather than later, the pressure will continue being put on Alford’s shoulders.
That pressure was increased even further this week, as it was announced that Alford was given just a one-year deal, which presumably is tied into the fact that he has swung and missed on running back recruiting in the 2020 cycle. In all fairness, yes, Alford had reportedly had a silent commitment from the No. 1-ranked running back (Bijan Robinson) in the class. But in all fairness, no, he did not land him.
So, yes, there's a lot of pressure on Alford, and both Edwards and Bellamy know that.
But, still, Edwards can't allow that to cloud his decision. He needs to take his time to make sure he’s making the best decision for himself. But both Edwards and Bellamy have immense respect for Alford and want to do right by him.
See how stressful this can get?
No matter the decision, Alford will end up being on the “pros” side of that list for Edwards, and his transparency is one of the biggest reasons why.
“He's an elite recruiter. He’s elite,” Bellamy said of Alford. “That makes a difference in (Edwards’) recruitment is you play football from August in fall camp all the way until the first week of January if you're fortunate. And what do you do from January all the way to July? What do you do for those seven months? Most of the time you're not in your pads working with a coach. So it’s important to have a genuine relationship with your coach.”
