COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford is a straight shooter. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. If you’re great, he will tell you you’re rare. If you’re not, he will show you how to reach your potential.
It’s one reason recruits soak in his message.
One of Alford’s latest offers is Alvin Henderson, a promising 2025 running back out of Elba, Alabama. Ohio State became his 52nd offer on Friday as Alford and Henderson spoke over the phone for the first time.
”He kept it real,” Henderson told cleveland.com. “The things he told me over the phone, no other coach that I had talked to ever said anything like that.”
Those words were honesty, a value that Alford encourages all of his recruits to embrace. He cut to the chase with a powerful message.
“He was like, ‘I’m not the type of a coach that’s going to sell you lies and dreams. Out of all the coaches that have already offered you, have they told you why they really want you?’”
Henderson had heard that type of talk only once before.
“I said, ‘No coach has ever told me that except at Alabama,’ ” he said. “We talked, me and my mom, and he told us about The Ohio State. He said he didn’t want me to think he was selling me dreams. He wanted me to see it with my own eyes.”
That conversation trickled into Alford doubling down on what he believes Henderson can become much later down the road.
“He said, ‘I’m going to be honest with you, there are only a few guys in your class that I’m recruiting that can make it to the NFL. You are one of the premiere-type guys.’”
Ohio State has offered six running backs in the class, ther others being Jordon Davison, Byron Louis, Gideon Davidson, Donovan Johnson and Harlem Berry.
Alford scouted Henderson for two months before extending the offer.
“He said he isn’t the type of coach that just goes out and offers you,” Henderson said. “He wants to get to know you before he offers you.”
Alford’s honest approach planted the seed, but there is still a long way to go to try and pull one of Nick Saban’s targets out of his own backyard. The Buckeyes have offered just 20 prospects from the Yellowhammer State since 1999. They have never earned a commitment from an Alabama prospect in the modern recruiting era (1999-present).
Living just a three-hour drive from Tuscaloosa, Henderson grew up an Alabama fan. He’s been on Saban’s radar for quite a while, with the Crimson Tide extending the offer after a camp last month. The elite prospect has also recorded multiple visits to campus. One look at the film, and it’s easy to see why Alabama wants him to stay home.
The 5-foot-11, 180-pound all-purpose back burst onto the high school scene with 24 touchdowns and 1,115 yards in his freshman season with the Elba Tigers. But what’s most impressive is that he wasn’t even the starter in some of his games. That didn’t stop him from dominating the competition, as chatter swirled around the South of his talents.
“I go to a smaller school, but where I go to, we play a little competition,” Henderson said. “I really wasn’t the starting running back last year. When coaches talk to my coaches and they found out that I didn’t start, and every time I touched the ball and scored, that opened a lot of coaches’ eyes.”
Now all eyes are on him, as he is being courted by college football’s most prestigious programs. His plan is to navigate a full-length recruitment with a finish line set for National Signing Day in 2025, which is in December of 2024. Although, he admits, that plan may change.
Henderson has visited Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Troy. He is eyeing visits later this year to Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, Florida, Texas A&M and Ohio State.
Alabama, and a few others, have established a steady line of communication with him.
“It’s really Alabama,” Henderson said when asked who he has the strongest relationship with. “I talk to Alabama every week, USC every week. All the big schools that have offered me, I talk to them at least once a week.”
Ohio State has developed 43 running backs into the NFL, good enough for fourth all-time, according to Eleven Warriors. The Buckeyes well-documented history at running back always gives them a strong advantage in recruitments, and this one is no different.
“I think of Ezekiel Elliott and all the running backs they have had over the years,” Henderson said. “I told Coach Alford, every year you can expect a great running back or receiver that comes out of Ohio State to be pretty good.”
The Southern prospect has never been to Ohio, but he’s intrigued by the Buckeyes, saying they will “definitely stay high” on his board.
Between 7-on-7, multiple sports, and a national recruitment, the three-sport athlete (baseball and basketball) is juggling a dozen things at once, but his focus is never out of sync.
“I’m doing the same thing I did last year really just harder,” Henderson said. “About seven days a week, maybe not Sunday, but seven days a week, I’m in the lab. I only can be better.”
He said he wants to fall in love with a program that is real from start to finish. The most important part of his recruitment is who shows the most genuine love to Henderson and his family.
“Whatever coaches stay in touch with me and my mom the most,” Henderson said. “I don’t want to go to a school that my mom doesn’t really know anything about. I want to visit a school a couple times before I can actually commit. Like Coach Alford said, coaches be selling me dreams. I want to see what it’s about before I commit.”
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