Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
There remains something to be said for T.J. Yeldon.
Truth be told, there's a lot remaining to be said for and about the University of Alabama's junior running back, an enigmatic and underappreciated player who'd just as soon run through a patch of saw briars as stand in front of a camera or a microphone and answer questions in which he sees no value.
For that, and a multitude of other reasons, Yeldon remains one of the most unassuming and minimized stars in the Crimson Tide's vast history.
As friends and families across the country gather to give thanks this holiday season, Alabama fans would be wise to show some love to Yeldon, who despite production that puts him with the greats in school history somehow fails to receive his due for a variety of factors.
Yeldon is the bike in the backyard, solid and reliable even after years of use, while everyone stares longingly at the wrapped, unknown and unproven shiny new ride under the tree.
As a freshman in 2012, Yeldon got a bit of shine, rushing for more yards than any true freshman running back ever at Alabama. Even then, though, he was behind Eddie Lacy, a gifted back who would go to win NFL Rookie of the Year.
A year later it was Yeldon's show, but fans and media couldn't contain their excitement, anxious to get a peak at what then-freshman jumbo back Derrick Henry had under the hood.
Even as he set his sights on a career rushing record going into his junior year, the focus seemed to skip over Yeldon onto Henry and turbocharged backfield mate Kenyan Drake.
With at least two, and possibly four games remaining this season and potentially in his collegiate career, now is the time to give thanks for all that Timothy Yeldon Jr., known to all as simply T.J., has accomplished and given Alabama during his three years.
Ahead of his time
Yeldon arrived in Tuscaloosa via Daphne, a town situated nearly halfway in between Spanish Fort and Fairhope in Baldwin County and just across the bay from Mobile.
As a senior at Daphne High School, Yeldon was a prodigy. Always bigger and stronger than his classmates, he thrived in athletics, especially football. He adeptly crossed over between quarterback, wide receiver, in the wildcat and as a running back.
T.J. Yeldon is closing in on the program's career rushing record.
When his freshman football season ended, Daphne coach Glenn Vickery promoted him to the varsity, where he found a home as a slot receiver.
In one of his first games with the big boys, Yeldon returned a kickoff 99 yards against a good Pace (Fla.) High School team. Vickery knew he was witnessing something special.
"He was always what I'd say is ahead of his time, athletically, physically, mature-wise," Vickery said. "You could always see the potential that he had the ability to be a great player. T.J. was always the kind of kid that carried himself well."
A great deal of his high school career was spent at wide receiver.
"If the ball was in the area T.J. was going to catch it," Vickery said. "He was bigger and stronger than most DBs. If there was a jump ball he was going to win it."
The Trojans won a Class 6A state championship in 2010, beating powerhouse Hoover by a 7-6 score, snapping the Buccaneers' 21-game winning streak. Yeldon scored the only touchdown for Daphne. It came out of the wildcat.
"He was a very versatile player for us," Vickery joked.
That led to a senior season for the ages in which Yeldon rushed for 2,193 yards and 31 touchdowns, out-dueling Hueytown's Jameis Winston for Mr. Football honors. It was the first time a running back took home the award since 2000, when Carnell Williams did so.
He averaged nearly 10 yards a carry that season.
All the major colleges came calling, but it was Auburn that got his commitment.
"I had a good relationships with the coaches, Coach (Curtis) Luper, Coach (Gene) Chizik, Coach (Gus) Malzahn before he left," Yeldon said. "I felt kind of comfortable there, but then they all started leaving."
What happened next remains a source of contention.
Yeldon spurned his verbal commitment to Auburn and opted for Alabama, waiting until the coaching dead period in the recruiting calendar to do so. Yeldon was an early enrollee, essentially assuring that no Auburn coaches could contact him before he enrolled for the spring semester at Alabama in 2012.
It was a simple decision. It was a business decision.
"Just the running backs here, the tradition of running backs at Alabama," Yeldon said. "They all had a good time here, played their years, and they accomplished a lot of goals they had and got drafted. That's why I wanted to come here."
Hitting the ground running
There wasn't much of an adjustment to major college football.
During the spring game A-Day game in 2012 he announced his presence with 179 all-purpose yards. He caught five passes for 91 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown, and added 88 yards on 16 carries rushing to earn the Dixie Howell Most Valuable Player of the Game Award.
As a freshman, Yeldon became the first Crimson Tide true freshman running back to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark.
When the real games started it didn't seem much of a challenge either.
Yeldon hit the ground running with a breakout 111-yard, one-touchdown performance against Michigan in his first collegiate game. The season wasn't much different as he posted five 100-yard rushing games, despite playing behind Lacy, on the way to 1,108 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. It was the first time an Alabama true freshman had run for 1,000 yards.
Despite his overall body of work, Yeldon's Alabama career is and will likely always be defined by one play: the screen against LSU in Death Valley.
It was a game of flipped emotions. A Yeldon third-quarter fumble at the LSU 10 yard line cost Alabama points. For a moment or two, he couldn't shake it.
With the game winding down and Alabama training 17-14, he made amends, catching a screen pass from quarterback AJ McCarron and racing 28 yards untouched for the game-winning touchdown.
As he crossed the goal line, Yeldon reached the ball out a bit with his right hand, readjusted and flexed his arms together multiple times while letting out a primal scream. To this day, it's the most emotion Yeldon has shown on a football field.
Vickery was at UAB Hospital in Birmingham following major surgery when Yeldon scored. Drifting in and out of sleep, he awakened from bed with his wife screaming.
"I was on some pretty strong medicine and my wife woke up the entire hospital screaming, 'T.J. scored!'" Vickery said. "I saw the emotion he showed and you could tell how much that meant to him.
"But that's about the most you're going to get from him."
He's always been like that
Yeldon remains a man of mystery around the Alabama football complex. Not to his teammates or coaches, but to reporters.
Despite a stellar legacy that's still building, not much is known about Yeldon. He rarely does interviews. It's just not who he is.
T.J. Yeldon isn't comfortable in front of cameras or microphones. He's no value in it.
"I just don't think it's a good idea to talk to the media," Yeldon said in a rare one-on-one interview. "I just don't like doing it. Not my personality, not at all."
To hear his family tell it, it's been that way for a while.
He's the same back home in Daphne. When visitors come to the family home, Yeldon retreats to his room.
"He doesn't do a lot of talking," his mother, Kimberly Yeldon, said. "Me and his dad are the same way. We don't really talk to a lot of people. We're quiet too."
Kimberly and the player's father, Timothy Yeldon Sr., have missed just one of their youngest son's football games at Alabama, a road game at Missouri in 2012, T.J.'s freshman season.
To honor his parents that day, he wore a wristband during the game with the words "Kim and Tim" written in black marker.
He's as reserved around them, albeit maybe to a lesser degree: except for that one time when his parents surprised him with his first car during his sophomore year in 2013.
"We got him a Tahoe, and we drove up to his dorm room and we parked on the side of the dorm and we told him we were downstairs. He came down and he was looking around and looking around and said, 'I don't see y'all.' We told him, 'We're right here in the truck,' and he started smiling from ear to ear. He was so excited. We told him to get in and drive us somewhere."
That's about the extent of emotion you'll see publicly from T.J. Yeldon.
"T.J. is just T.J," Kimberly Yeldon said.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1709194#sthash.ndnNbMeg.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
There remains something to be said for T.J. Yeldon.
Truth be told, there's a lot remaining to be said for and about the University of Alabama's junior running back, an enigmatic and underappreciated player who'd just as soon run through a patch of saw briars as stand in front of a camera or a microphone and answer questions in which he sees no value.
For that, and a multitude of other reasons, Yeldon remains one of the most unassuming and minimized stars in the Crimson Tide's vast history.
As friends and families across the country gather to give thanks this holiday season, Alabama fans would be wise to show some love to Yeldon, who despite production that puts him with the greats in school history somehow fails to receive his due for a variety of factors.
Yeldon is the bike in the backyard, solid and reliable even after years of use, while everyone stares longingly at the wrapped, unknown and unproven shiny new ride under the tree.
As a freshman in 2012, Yeldon got a bit of shine, rushing for more yards than any true freshman running back ever at Alabama. Even then, though, he was behind Eddie Lacy, a gifted back who would go to win NFL Rookie of the Year.
A year later it was Yeldon's show, but fans and media couldn't contain their excitement, anxious to get a peak at what then-freshman jumbo back Derrick Henry had under the hood.
Even as he set his sights on a career rushing record going into his junior year, the focus seemed to skip over Yeldon onto Henry and turbocharged backfield mate Kenyan Drake.
With at least two, and possibly four games remaining this season and potentially in his collegiate career, now is the time to give thanks for all that Timothy Yeldon Jr., known to all as simply T.J., has accomplished and given Alabama during his three years.
Ahead of his time
Yeldon arrived in Tuscaloosa via Daphne, a town situated nearly halfway in between Spanish Fort and Fairhope in Baldwin County and just across the bay from Mobile.
As a senior at Daphne High School, Yeldon was a prodigy. Always bigger and stronger than his classmates, he thrived in athletics, especially football. He adeptly crossed over between quarterback, wide receiver, in the wildcat and as a running back.
T.J. Yeldon is closing in on the program's career rushing record.
When his freshman football season ended, Daphne coach Glenn Vickery promoted him to the varsity, where he found a home as a slot receiver.
In one of his first games with the big boys, Yeldon returned a kickoff 99 yards against a good Pace (Fla.) High School team. Vickery knew he was witnessing something special.
"He was always what I'd say is ahead of his time, athletically, physically, mature-wise," Vickery said. "You could always see the potential that he had the ability to be a great player. T.J. was always the kind of kid that carried himself well."
A great deal of his high school career was spent at wide receiver.
"If the ball was in the area T.J. was going to catch it," Vickery said. "He was bigger and stronger than most DBs. If there was a jump ball he was going to win it."
The Trojans won a Class 6A state championship in 2010, beating powerhouse Hoover by a 7-6 score, snapping the Buccaneers' 21-game winning streak. Yeldon scored the only touchdown for Daphne. It came out of the wildcat.
"He was a very versatile player for us," Vickery joked.
That led to a senior season for the ages in which Yeldon rushed for 2,193 yards and 31 touchdowns, out-dueling Hueytown's Jameis Winston for Mr. Football honors. It was the first time a running back took home the award since 2000, when Carnell Williams did so.
He averaged nearly 10 yards a carry that season.
All the major colleges came calling, but it was Auburn that got his commitment.
"I had a good relationships with the coaches, Coach (Curtis) Luper, Coach (Gene) Chizik, Coach (Gus) Malzahn before he left," Yeldon said. "I felt kind of comfortable there, but then they all started leaving."
What happened next remains a source of contention.
Yeldon spurned his verbal commitment to Auburn and opted for Alabama, waiting until the coaching dead period in the recruiting calendar to do so. Yeldon was an early enrollee, essentially assuring that no Auburn coaches could contact him before he enrolled for the spring semester at Alabama in 2012.
It was a simple decision. It was a business decision.
"Just the running backs here, the tradition of running backs at Alabama," Yeldon said. "They all had a good time here, played their years, and they accomplished a lot of goals they had and got drafted. That's why I wanted to come here."
Hitting the ground running
There wasn't much of an adjustment to major college football.
During the spring game A-Day game in 2012 he announced his presence with 179 all-purpose yards. He caught five passes for 91 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown, and added 88 yards on 16 carries rushing to earn the Dixie Howell Most Valuable Player of the Game Award.
As a freshman, Yeldon became the first Crimson Tide true freshman running back to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark.
When the real games started it didn't seem much of a challenge either.
Yeldon hit the ground running with a breakout 111-yard, one-touchdown performance against Michigan in his first collegiate game. The season wasn't much different as he posted five 100-yard rushing games, despite playing behind Lacy, on the way to 1,108 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns. It was the first time an Alabama true freshman had run for 1,000 yards.
Despite his overall body of work, Yeldon's Alabama career is and will likely always be defined by one play: the screen against LSU in Death Valley.
It was a game of flipped emotions. A Yeldon third-quarter fumble at the LSU 10 yard line cost Alabama points. For a moment or two, he couldn't shake it.
With the game winding down and Alabama training 17-14, he made amends, catching a screen pass from quarterback AJ McCarron and racing 28 yards untouched for the game-winning touchdown.
As he crossed the goal line, Yeldon reached the ball out a bit with his right hand, readjusted and flexed his arms together multiple times while letting out a primal scream. To this day, it's the most emotion Yeldon has shown on a football field.
Vickery was at UAB Hospital in Birmingham following major surgery when Yeldon scored. Drifting in and out of sleep, he awakened from bed with his wife screaming.
"I was on some pretty strong medicine and my wife woke up the entire hospital screaming, 'T.J. scored!'" Vickery said. "I saw the emotion he showed and you could tell how much that meant to him.
"But that's about the most you're going to get from him."
He's always been like that
Yeldon remains a man of mystery around the Alabama football complex. Not to his teammates or coaches, but to reporters.
Despite a stellar legacy that's still building, not much is known about Yeldon. He rarely does interviews. It's just not who he is.
T.J. Yeldon isn't comfortable in front of cameras or microphones. He's no value in it.
"I just don't think it's a good idea to talk to the media," Yeldon said in a rare one-on-one interview. "I just don't like doing it. Not my personality, not at all."
To hear his family tell it, it's been that way for a while.
He's the same back home in Daphne. When visitors come to the family home, Yeldon retreats to his room.
"He doesn't do a lot of talking," his mother, Kimberly Yeldon, said. "Me and his dad are the same way. We don't really talk to a lot of people. We're quiet too."
Kimberly and the player's father, Timothy Yeldon Sr., have missed just one of their youngest son's football games at Alabama, a road game at Missouri in 2012, T.J.'s freshman season.
To honor his parents that day, he wore a wristband during the game with the words "Kim and Tim" written in black marker.
He's as reserved around them, albeit maybe to a lesser degree: except for that one time when his parents surprised him with his first car during his sophomore year in 2013.
"We got him a Tahoe, and we drove up to his dorm room and we parked on the side of the dorm and we told him we were downstairs. He came down and he was looking around and looking around and said, 'I don't see y'all.' We told him, 'We're right here in the truck,' and he started smiling from ear to ear. He was so excited. We told him to get in and drive us somewhere."
That's about the extent of emotion you'll see publicly from T.J. Yeldon.
"T.J. is just T.J," Kimberly Yeldon said.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1709194#sthash.ndnNbMeg.dpuf
