William Constantinos Vlachos (born May 26, 1988) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who is currently an offensive line analyst at

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

under head coach

Mario Cristobal Mario Manuel Cristobal (born September 24, 1970) is an American college football coach who is the head football coach for the University of Miami. He previously served as the head football coach at Florida International University (FIU) from 200 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

Early life

Vlachos attended

Mountain Brook High School Mountain Brook High School (MBHS) is a three-year public high school in the city of Mountain Brook, Alabama. It is the only high school in the Mountain Brook School System. The school's colors are green and gold. Its athletic teams are known a ...

in Mountain Brook,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Originally a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

, Vlachos was a three-star prospect out of high school, ranked 19th nationally by

Rivals.com Rivals.com (stylized as ''rivals'') is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was found ...

, 16th in the state of Alabama by Scout.com and 15th in Alabama by the

Mobile Press-Register The ''Press-Register'' (known from 1997 to 2006 as the ''Mobile Register'') was a newspaper serving the southwest Alabama counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The newspaper is a descendant of one founded in 1813, making the ''Press-Register'' Alab ...

. As a senior, he was recognized on the 6A All-State team.

College career

A five-year player at Alabama, Vlachos was originally recruited by

Mike Shula Mike Shula (born June 3, 1965) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He played college football as a quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was the school's head coach from 2003 t ...

, not

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. ( ; born October 31, 1951) is an American sportscaster and former Professional gridiron football, professional and college football coach. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's ''College GameDay (football TV program), Colleg ...

, as Saban replaced Shula before the 2007 season. In his initial year at Alabama, Vlachos played in one game and was subsequently

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

. In his second year, he saw limited action in seven games, including the 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl. As a redshirt sophomore in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Vlachos started every game, helping pave the way for eventual

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

winner

Mark Ingram II Mark Valentino Ingram II (born December 21, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football running back and current on-air personality for Fox Sports. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played ...

to rush for 1658 yards and 17 touchdowns, and helped

Greg McElroy Gregory Vincent McElroy Jr. (born May 10, 1988) is an American football commentator and former quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL draft after playing colleg ...

throw for 2508 yard and 17 touchdowns, en route an SEC Championship and a

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four desi ...

. As a redshirt junior, Vlachos again started every game en route to a 49–7 victory over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

in the

2011 Capital One Bowl The 2011 Capital One Bowl was the sixty-fifth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game was played on January 1, 2011 and matched the Alabama Crimson Tide from the Southeastern Con ...

. As a redshirt senior in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Vlachos again paved the way for another prolific running back, this time

Trent Richardson Trenton Jamond Richardson (born July 10, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was recognized as ...

, who rushed for 23 touchdowns and finished as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Vlachos and Alabama would win another

. Vlachos finished his career having started 40 consecutive games and having played in 48 total games.

Professional career

On April 30, 2012, Vlachos was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tennessee Titans. He was released on August 27, 2012.

Personal life

Vlachos was born in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

to a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

father and an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

mother.Vlachos following in the footsteps of his grandfather

The Daily Home ''The Daily Home'' is a daily newspaper serving the Talladega County and St. Clair County, Alabama areas. Originally begun as a weekly in 1867 it was called ''Our Mountain Home'' until daily production began in 1909 at which point the name was ...

. Retrieved October 22, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlachos, William 1988 births Living people American people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Sportspeople from Athens Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American football centers Alabama Crimson Tide football players Tennessee Titans players Coaches of American football from Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Buffalo Bills coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches