Alabama set for another big recruiting weekend
Nick Saban puts together a high caliber coaching staff for 2018
MOBILE, Ala. — Unaccustomed to bragging about himself Bradley Bozeman struggled to find a word that describes what he can offer to NFL teams. Ultimately, the former Alabama center came up with “try-hardness.”
You won’t find the word in any dictionary but it perfectly sums up Bozeman’s approach on the field. The 6-foot-5, 314-pound offensive lineman openly admits “I’m not the best athlete," but that didn’t stop him from compiling 31 career starts and earning unanimous second-team All-American honors last season.
The secret behind Bozeman’s success: try-hardness.
“All my life I’ve worked really hard,” Bozeman said. “I’ve always done extra and really tried to get everything out of myself. That’s what got me a scholarship. That’s what got me on the field, just doing the little things.”
The method has been working for quite some time now. Bozeman’s father, Barry, points to the summer of his son’s eighth-grade year during a heat wave in their hometown of Roanoke, Ala. After hours of flipping skidder tires under the hot sun, Bradley lumbered back to the car where his mother was waiting to take him home from practice.
As mother’s do, she took one look at her tired boy and immediately questioned if coaches were working him too hard. Bradley looked up with a smile.
“He said, ‘Momma, I love it,”' Barry recalled. “That’s when I figured out that he was going to be special."
Those hard summers developed Bradley into a legitimate college prospect. The former four-star was rated as the No. 14 player in the state and No. 26 offensive tackle in the 2013 class. Eventually, that led to an offer from Alabama, his dream school growing up. Bradley wasted no time, committing to the Crimson Tide during the summer before his junior year.
Despite his promising rise, there were many who questioned the decision.
“There’ve been plenty of people who said ‘You’re never going to play there,”’ Bradley said. “They said I’m never going to do this, never going to do that. I don’t really value anyone’s opinion. The wolf doesn’t buy into the sheep’s opinion.”
