Ohio State Linebacker TJ Alford Playing Faster As Confidence and Opportunities Grow

Ohio State linebacker Tarvos “TJ” Alford does not sound like someone waiting his turn anymore. He seems more like someone who understands exactly where he fits.

“Not really,” Alford said when asked if anything about his emergence surprised him. “I feel like we are all just dogs. We all just came here to play.”

That mindset has started to show up in a different way this spring, not just in effort, but in overall approach. “I feel like I’m just more confident, more knowledgeable about the system, about what offenses can run and things like that,” Alford said. “I feel like I’ve shown that I deserve that I could play…that I pay attention…that I’ve grown a lot.”

That growth is translating directly to how he plays.

“I feel like I’m reading [things better],” Alford said. “It just helps you play better. It helps you play faster. Coach James Laurinaitis tells us if you are able to know what the offense is doing, you’re able to be there before they could make the play.”

Laurinaitis is seeing that progress up close. “Man, TJ has grown so much from last season. So much,” Laurinaitis said. “He got so much better from fall camp to when we were in the postseason.”

For Laurinaitis, the jump has not just been physical. “There’s been maturity,” he said. “I think TJ learned a lot about himself through last season. There’s been a seriousness of trying to find a way to get on the field and have a role, which I think TJ’s done a phenomenal job…I expect to see a lot of football out of him this fall if everything keeps trending the way it’s gone.”

The opportunity is there, but nothing at linebacker comes easy at Ohio State.

“It’s a lot of competition. We got dogs everywhere,” Alford said. “We got Payton (Pierce), the old guy. Christian (Alliegro) just coming in, he’s a dog. We got Stove (Garrett Stover), Eli (Lee), and then we got the young guys behind us that’s pushing us to be better every day.”

That internal pressure is by design. “The standard was always to try to get our room to a point where you felt a healthy amount of pressure to perform,” Laurinaitis said. “If I have a bad day or two, I could be passed up by the next guy.”

Replacing players like Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese is not something Alford is trying to do directly.

“I feel like they’re huge shoes to fill,” he said. “But nobody’s going to be another Arvell Reese. Nobody’s going to be another Sonny Styles. You just want to be the best version of yourself.”

That mindset has helped TJ shift his focus from comparison to production.

“You want to be that person the young guys look up to."