Toronto Blue Jays rookie Anthony Alford played quarterback in the NCAA
By Chris Mckee
Toronto Blue Jays prospect Anthony Alford made his major league debut Friday night but he was once a highly recruited quarterback who played NCAA football.
Toronto Blue Jays prospect Anthony Alford made his major league debut last night in Baltimore against the Orioles in front of his family and friends. Alford started in centre field and went 0-for-2 before being replaced by Chris Coghlan as a pinch-hitter after five innings in a 5-3 10 inning loss.
In 33 games at Double-A New Hampshire, Alford was hitting an impressive .325 with three home runs, 11 RBI and nine stolen bases. However, before he was patrolling the outfield for the Blue Jays, Alford was once a top-rated recruit who played NCAA football.
Coming out of Petal High School in Petal, Mississippi, Alford was a two-sport athlete who played in the coveted U.S Army All-American Bowl featuring the top rated high school recruits in America. Alford was the East team’s QB and faced off against future NFL’ers Shaq Thompson (Carolina Panthers), T.J. Yeldon (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Dorial Green-Beckham (Philadelphia Eagles).
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Alford was rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals and ESPN and received scholarship offers from some of the biggest programs in football including Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Tennessee. Instead, Alford chose to stay closer to home and committed to play football for Southern Miss in the same year as being taken in the third round of the MLB draft by the Blue Jays.
NCAA rules allow you to play professional baseball while still remaining eligible in another sport. Over the years, many players have taken advantage of that rule including the likes of Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, former Heisman winner — and Toronto Argo —Ricky Williams and Drew Henson, who famously took Tom Brady’s starting QB job at the University of Michigan while being a millionaire who played baseball in the Yankee’s minor-league system.
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During his freshman year, Alford played in nine games for the Golden Eagles (starting five) throwing for 664 yards with two touchdown passes and four interceptions. He also ran for 329 yards with six touchdowns.
However, on November 28 of that season Alford was involved in an altercation on campus that saw a fellow student brandish a gun, which resulted in Alford being charged with aggravated assault. Although the charges were later reduced, Alford was suspended and eventually dismissed from Southern Miss.
Alford then transferred to Ole Miss where he sat out the 2013 season due to NCAA transfer rules. With Ole Miss set at the quarterback position for the 2014 season, Alford was forced to switch to the defensive side of the ball. He played safety in the first four games of the season registering six tackles and returning two punts for eight yards.
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After the fourth game of the football season, Alford announced he was leaving school to focus solely on his professional baseball career. Since then, Alford has quickly worked his way up through the Blue Jays minor league system and eventually made his major league debut on May 19, 2017.