Most of Wisconsin's 2021 class will be joining the program in June; however, the Badgers will welcome six players to Madison in January as mid-year enrollees. We decided to check in with a few of these incoming freshmen as they begin the transition from being prep standouts to college athletes.
A surprise commitment emerged for UW in September when cornerback Al Ashford III announced his decision to commit to Paul Chryst's program. The three-star defensive back from Greenwood Village (CO) Cherry Creek signed in December and joins Hunter Wohler, Ricardo Hallman and Braelon Allen as projected members of the secondary in this class.
Ashford spoke with BadgerBlitz.com on Jan. 4 about a variety of topics as the days tick down before his arrival at Wisconsin. Questions and his answers have been edited for clarity.
Last month you went out on top as a state champ. What does it mean to you to end your career as a two-time state champ?
AA: "Oh, it's very important. The family aspect with me, just being on the team, is huge. To be able to come out on top, twice in a row, go back-to-back, it's awesome, man. It just gives a credit to our coaching staff as well as our players just being able to be resilient during the COVID[-19] pandemic and also with the changes of seniors leaving and things like that."
With your team this year, you had quite a few players go on to Division I schools. Who all signed or is going to schools at the next level?
AA: "I think I heard we had 11 guys holding Division I offers. We had six sign early, seven, excuse me. You got Gunnar Helm went to Texas, Chase Penry went to [Colorado], Arden Walker to Mizzou, Miles Purchase to Iowa State, Gus Zilinskas going to Rutgers. You got Corey Haniford. He ended up going to Northern Colorado. All those guys, decided to sign early with me and yeah, we got a lot of swag, man."
Going back to your recruiting process, just when did you in Wisconsin really start having conversations and developing your relationship?
AA: "Well, me and Wisconsin had a weird relationship at first. I was recruited by Coach [Bobby] April. He came to recruit Gunnar Helm and Arden Walker from high school. They were guys who held offers early. He saw me in the weight room and said, 'What position do you play?' I was like, 'Corner.'
"He was looking at his note pad and was like, 'Oh, you're Ashford, the 6-foot-1 corner? You run a 4.4 [second 40-yard dash]?' I was like, 'Yeah.' Ever since then, me and Coach April started developing a relationship, and he said he thinks I'll be a real great fit for the program. So me and Coach [Jim] Leonhard and then Coach Chryst started having some more conversations. They ended up offering me, and I kind of kept in the dark until I was ready to just announce where I was going without telling anybody."
You committed back in September, but when did you realize, was there an exact moment where you said, 'I'm picking Wisconsin' as your collegiate home?
AA: "It just so happens that I went to the Lids store, and there was one college hat in the Lids store that poked out to me out of the schools recruiting me and where I thought I was gonna go. It just [happened to be] a Wisconsin Badger hat.
"Besides the praying I've done, and how smoothly everything's gone through, I thought it had to be the place for me."
Wisconsin has signed cornerbacks from the state of Colorado recently in Deron Harrell and Max Lofy. Do you have any connections to those two, and if so, what have they told you about the football program and university?
AA: "I'm actually well acquainted with Deron Harrell and Max Lofy. Deron's kind of a mentor to me. I've gotten on the phone with him even before I was getting recruited by Wisconsin and just talked about football, the recruiting process, and even life.
"Then me and Max actually ran track and played football against each other back in middle school, all the way up until early high school until I moved to Denver. So getting to know those guys and once I started getting recruited by Wisconsin, getting on the phone with them, and just talking about, how it really is, they are telling me just about the family culture is and how great of coaches Coach Chryst and Coach Leonhard are. Even the fun they're having on campus, even during COVID, getting to be together as a team, even though a lot of people are back at home and getting to still practice and put that extra work in. It was great to hear for me."
Just what influenced your decision to start your college career early?
AA: "To be honest with you, I'm hoping to get there and get a lot of great coaching. Early on, get my body developed and just to be able to get that extra time to get acclimated to school, as well as the team. It's really going to help us next year push for a Big Ten championship and hopefully be a freshman that can get on the field early, whether that'd be special teams or playing DB just to help out in any way I can."
Who's your roommate going to be early on, and when's the scheduled move in date for you?
AA: [Inside linebacker] Jake Chaney, and I'll be there on the 17th.
What conversations have you had with defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, pertaining to expectations when you arrive and gearing up for your first semester as a college football player?
AA: "Me and Coach Leonhard have had talks just pertaining to physically, I've always been kind of a bigger DB. I'm probably gonna be still within the top three of the tallest and biggest of the corners we're gonna have. But just the mental side of the game. I've always been big on the cerebral side, just being able to really dissect offenses and understand the defense. Know where my leverage is, where my help is, how to make plays in a defense.
"So for me and him, most of our conversations are pertaining to I'm trying to help out in meetings and things like that, just being able to get on the phone with him and break down scheme for a team or things like that. Just me and him send each other clips all the time. He'll send me some practice clips of the guys, and I'll send him some clips of me training here in Colorado just to get that extra coaching in wherever I can get it."
What do you feel you will bring to the cornerback room?
AA: "I'm a guy that can eliminate a No. 1 receiver. I can come up and tackle. I can play anywhere in the secondary as well. There's a lot of corners and safeties that kind of get stuck. They can't play the boundary or can't play the field, maybe they can cover but they can't tackle. I feel like I'm one of the premier corners, not just in my class, but in football right now that can really lock up a number one receiver, can come tackle in the run fit, and I'm going to bring the energy. I'm one of those guys that I'm gonna support my team through thick and thin no matter what's going on. Shoot, for us to win, if I got to be the water boy, I'll do it to make sure we win some games."
You talk about what you can you feel can bring, so I take those as your strengths, but in terms of areas of improvement, what areas do you feel that once you get to Madison you'll be able to grow in?
AA: "Just the efficiency. In high school, I haven't been able to really get targeted, even in practice. I end up finishing with 48 targets in four years, so I really didn't get too many balls thrown my way. In my senior season, I had six balls thrown to me in 10 games, so just to be able to get those reps of going against great receivers. I'm especially excited for guys like Skyler Bell, and Markus Allen, Kendric Pryor coming back, Danny Davis getting off of injuries and stuff like that. Chimere [Dike], guys like that I can go against on a regular basis who are good receivers that I can get tested. That's a big thing I want to improve on.
[BadgerBlitz.com note: Though offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph told reporters in December that he thought Davis had "probably a pretty good chance" to return for the 2021 season, neither Davis nor UW have made an official, public statement regarding a potential decision by the wide receiver as of the morning of Jan. 12. The program also has not officially disclosed what kept Davis out of five games in 2020.]
"Outside of that, just the mental side of the game. Like I said before, I didn't have the resources in high school all the time to watch film with my coaches whenever I wanted to or to really break down statistically what we're doing. Maybe formationally, why are we doing what we're doing? I didn't have maybe the coaches to tell me those things where I can improve on that with Coach Leonhard and his staff just being that they're so good on the mental side of the game."
What are your goals for your freshman year?
AA: "I just want to be the best teammate I can be. I want to help my team with whatever we can do, and I want to focus on excelling in the classroom, as well as just getting stronger, getting faster. All the things that I can do just to better myself and also help with the betterment of my team."
