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

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

coach and former player who is currently the offensive line coach at Central Michigan. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

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

High school career

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 USA. It is the only high school in the Mountain Brook City School System. The school's colors are green and gold and the athletic teams a ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. 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 ...

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

Rivals.com Rivals.com 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 founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, 16th in the state of Alabama by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

and 15th in Alabama by the

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

. 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 senior offensive assistant coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). A graduate of the University of Alabama, he was the school's head football coa ...

, not

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

, 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 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Vlachos started every game, helping pave the way for eventual

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner

Mark Ingram II Mark Valentino Ingram II (born December 21, 1989) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he was the first Alabama player to win the Heis ...

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 drafted by the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) in the seventh round of t ...

throw for 2508 yard and 17 touchdowns, en route an

SEC Championship The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

and a

BCS National Championship The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, 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 foot ...

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

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

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, 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2011 and matched the Alabam ...

. As a redshirt senior in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

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

Trent Richardson Trenton Jamond Richardson (born July 10, 1990) is an American football running back for the Caudillos de Chihuahua of Fútbol Americano de México. He played college football for the University of Alabama, was recognized as an All-American, and ...

, 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.http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/sports/packers_and_nfl/other_nfl/Titans-place-Marc-Mariani-on-IR-in-trimming-to-75_60175958

Personal life

Vlachos was born in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

to a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

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, pe ...

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 c ...

. Retrieved October 22, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlachos, William 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American people of Greek descent American football centers Alabama Crimson Tide football players Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Buffalo Bills coaches