Ahead of Friday’s Cotton Bowl, one of the few Alabama connections on Cincinnati’s roster or coaching staff is running back Jerome Ford.
The Florida native spent his first two seasons in Tuscaloosa before transferring in 2020 to the Bearcats, where he has blossomed this season into one of the nation’s top-producing running backs. Only three FBS players have more total touchdowns than Ford’s 20, and he ranks 12th among qualifying rushers in averaging 6.24 yards per carry.
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Only a handful of offensive players and one offensive coach, Holmon Wiggins, remain from the last time Ford played for Alabama in 2019. But Friday’s game in Dallas’ AT&T Stadium still represents Ford’s first game against his former team, something he downplayed during a news conference Monday.
“I’m thankful for everything Coach Saban had done for me, and that opportunity to play at Alabama,” Ford said. “But I’m a Bearcat and I would kind of appreciate if people stopped calling me ‘the Alabama transfer.’ I’m a Cincinnati Bearcat.”
Ford started Alabama’s season opener against Duke in 2019 with Najee Harris and Brian Robinson benched for the first quarter. He rushed 10 times for 64 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown. That accounted for almost half of his 151 total rushing yards in two seasons, as Ford saw only limited late-game action in blowouts the rest of the way.
As NCAA and SEC transfer rules have loosened to allow players to play immediately elsewhere, the pace of players leaving Alabama has picked up. Both Ford and Chadarius Townsend transferred out in 2020 after being part of the Tide’s backfield in 2019, and were followed by Keilan Robinson and Kyle Edwards entering the portal after the 2020 season.
The general backdrop of many transfer decisions tends to be established veterans receiving significant playing time with freshmen or other younger players rising up the depth chart to squeeze others out. That held true for the backfield the past few seasons as Najee Harris and Brian Robinson received the bulk of the carries and talented newcomers such as Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams filled in the gaps.
But when McClellan and Williams were both lost to season-ending injuries this fall, and freshman Camar Wheaton remained out with a preseason knee injury, Alabama had to turn to other positions to fill backup roles at running back. It pulled over wide receiver Christian Leary and linebacker Demouy Kennedy, and at one point during his weekly radio show in mid-November, Nick Saban commented that Robinson would “be playing a lot” if he stayed at Alabama instead of transferring to Texas.
“That’s where sometimes these guys are a little short-sighted when they misread sort of what their opportunity really would be if they tried to stay and compete,” Saban said in reference to players entering the transfer portal.
Ford was asked Monday whether such a belief was communicated by Saban to him, and if he feels his performance at Cincinnati has validated his decision to transfer.
“I think the transfer portal is — I don’t even how to answer that question,” Ford said before waiting for a moderator to call on the next question.
As players transfer out of Alabama — including cornerback Marcus Banks, linebacker Jackson Bratton and offensive lineman Pierce Quick in recent months — spots open for the Tide to bring in players it has targeted in the portal. That included top receiver Jameson Williams and starting linebacker Henry To’o To’o last offseason, and has already yielded former LSU cornerback Eli Ricks and former Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs this cycle.
“I don’t think our good players are going to be leaving,” Saban said in April. “But I think we’ll be able to get some good players to join us, when we have room to do that.”
Saban, though, was complimentary of Ford when speaking Sunday upon Alabama’s arrival in Dallas.
“We thought Jerome was an outstanding player when he was with us,” Saban said. “He had some success with us, and I think he’s done a really, really good job of continuing to develop as a player. He’s got great speed. He’s physical. He makes people miss. He can run with power, and he’s had a fantastic year.
“And I’m really happy that things have worked out well for him where he can create value for himself in terms of the goals and aspirations that he had. And he’ll certainly be a challenge for us in terms of our defense being able to stop their offense. And he’s certainly a key part of what they do in terms of their running game. And he’s also a good receiver. So, he’s a very good all-around player.”
Ford, who enters the playoff with 1,242 rushing yards, was a first-team AAC selection and the MVP of the conference’s championship game. Cincinnati had been among the schools Ford had considered when he was recruited by then-Tide co-offensive coordinator Mike Locksley in 2017.
“It’s a business trip. I came here to play football,” Ford said Monday. “It won’t be one of those things where it’s like, ‘Oh, my buddies are over there.’ It will be just like playing another team.”
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
