For a kid from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Tuesday was the exact kind of day dreams are made of.
For most of them, it’s The Dream, in fact.
“I’ve always loved the university, I’ve always wanted to go,” said Woodberry Forest senior Mac Hereford.
Hereford is headed this fall to join the Alabama football program as an invited walk-on.
“It’s been a dream since I was a little kid,” Hereford said. “
It was far from an easy road for Hereford. Frankly, at a program that essentially picks and chooses from among the nation’s best potential football players, it’s not easy for anybody to become a part of the Crimson Tide. Despite interest from a number of schools like Northern Iowa though, Hereford stayed focused on the fruit at the highest branch of the highest tree to get a chance to join the reigning national champions.
“That’s always been his dream and he kept grinding,” said Woodberry coach Clint Alexander. “He’s just relentless, he works hard.”
This summer he attended Alabama coach Nick Saban’s football camp for yet another year and was part of the top group. He let every coach know he would love any opportunity to play at Alabama and that chance came Sunday.
“I was awestruck and excited,” Hereford said. “There was a feeling of happiness that all my hard work had paid off. When that actually happened it felt good.”
Hereford is a versatile player and at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds has the ability to play a number of different positions. More than though may be the fact that he’s the fourth generation of his family to attend Alabama and is completely all-in on the football program itself.
“The program has so much discipline and leadership, things that are appealing to me and can make me a better person,” Hereford said. “I like what the team stands for, what the program stands for.”
He was also quick to credit Woodberry’s array of standouts like highly recruited junior quarterback Lindell Stone, senior wideout Zach Roderick and Stanford-bound offensive lineman Clark Yarbrough for helping him get where he is now headed.
“We all push each other so much,” Hereford said. “The people around here can push you to levels that you never thought you could reach.”
