Only 50 days remain until August 31 and Penn State's season opener against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown. Moving into the player spotlight today on Happy Valley Insider's Countdown to Kickoff is No. 50, defensive tackle Alonzo Ford.
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A former two-star recruit, Ford received around a dozen offers including, Army, Boston College, Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Old Dominion, and Wake Forest before ultimately signing with Old Dominion as part of their 2020 recruiting class.
After not playing in 2020 with Old Dominion's season cancelled due to COVID-19, the Virginia native would have to wait to make to his collegiate debut in 2021. In two seasons, the defensive tackle racked up 70 total tackles, 25 solo tackles, and 4 sacks with the Monarchs. He was also named an All-Sun Belt honorable mention in 2022 before entering the transfer portal and committing to Penn State.
Last fall, Ford would miss the entire season due to injury, taking a redshirt. The expectation is that Ford will be ready to return for this fall according to Penn State head coach James Franklin who said, “He's close to being back. I think this summer, he'll be full go. And I'm not talking about summer camp, I'm talking about summer training," earlier this offseason.
If Ford is healthy he should be able to earn playing time, despite the Nittany Lions deep defensive tackle room with Zane Durant, Hakeem Beamon, Dvon J-Thomas, Coziah Izzard and Kaleb Artis. Ford enters the season two years of eligibility left in his collegiate career.
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