Bowling Green State University Athletics
Joe Alls Using New-Found Strength
November 12, 2002 | Football
Nov. 8, 2002
By JACK CARLE, Sentinel Sports Editor - Strength.
That's what Joe Alls has gained in mind, body, attitude and outlook in the time since Urban Meyer took over as Bowling Green's head football coach.
Now, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound fifth-year senior, Alls is using his new-found strength to provide a major portion of the running threat for the Falcons this fall.
Alls' 665 rushing yards and four touchdowns have helped Bowling Green to an 8-0 start this season and a national ranking in the Top 20 in both major polls. The Falcons take their 5-0 Mid-American Conference mark into Northern Illinois Saturday to face the only other unbeaten team in league play. Kickoff is at 2:35.
"He's a product of the program and I'm very proud to say that," Meyer said about Alls. "Joe Alls is a guy who slid for about two or three years. At times he went hard and at times he didn't.
"But (now) in the weight room, in the classroom and on the field he has been outstanding ... it all ties together."
Alls was a standout prep player at Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, Mich., rushing for more than 3,300 yards and scoring more than 50 touchdowns.
However, at Bowling Green, his career was full of ups and downs, until Meyer and strength and conditioning coach Aaron Hillmann arrived. Alls has earned the respect of Meyer with his hard work and has developed a strong coach-player relationship with Hillmann, offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon and the other members of the offensive coaching staff.
"When Coach Meyer first got here, it was just real difficult," Alls said. "When he came here, he just turned everything around. It was just hard times.
"Coach Meyer and I might have bumped heads a few times, but I believed in what he was doing and I just wanted to be along for the ride with everyone else," Alls continued. "It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what we were doing was hard work and if you could make it through his program, you would be a champion."
This fall Alls is leading the nation, averaging 7.6 yards per carry, and has become a major part of BG's offense.
"It's bittersweet. In the past it was real bitter, now it's real sweet," Alls said.
In previous seasons Alls might have been tripped up by an arm tackle. Now he is running through defenders.
"The thing Joe brings to the table is that he refuses to go down when he runs. He'll make a play out of nothing and he's done that several times in the last two seasons," said Greg Kupke,
BG's standing right offensive guard. Kupke and Alls attended rival high schools in Michigan. "He runs probably harder than any back I have been associated with ... For his size, what he does on the field is just amazing.
"He makes my job easier and I'm speaking collectively for the offensive line, because he's just so quick."
In turn, Alls gives credit to the offensive line. Three of the five starters on the line are also fifth-year seniors.
"I honestly don't think I would be having the season I'm having if it wasn't for the offensive line," Alls said. "They open massive holes for me to run through ... That just makes my job a whole lot easier."
Alls needs 335 yards over the next four games to become the first BG running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season since Zeb Jackson rushed for 1,016 yards in 1993. Alls missed two full games and a major part of a third with a shoulder injury this season.
"Coach Meyer says he wants a 1,200-yard rusher and I honestly think I can be that guy," Alls said. "I think Coach Meyer thinks I'm playing hard and I'm trying to make plays every time I'm out there on the field.
"That's what really matters to me, grading out a champion every time I'm on the field."
The spread offense, with Josh Harris at the controls, is another factor in Alls' recent success.
"Before we were running the Power-I and obviously, I'm not a big back," Alls said. "By having the spread offense, our offense is real balanced. It opens up the middle.
"Coach Brandon just calls the best games ever. I give that man a lot of credit," Alls added. "At the same time you need your players to perform ... and I think the coaches do a great job of bringing the best out of their players. Everyone has been performing this year."
