MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Once he was matched up across University High receiver Amir Richardson in last week’s Mohawk Bowl, Aaron Alvarez knew he was going to be picked on.
It happened on the first two plays, both leading to long gains for the Hawks.
After each one, Alvarez kept telling himself what Morgantown High defensive coordinator Matt Kelly had drilled into his head since he made the move to cornerback: You’re going to give up big plays, but you can’t let that get to you. You have to move on.
“Our whole goal is to take away high-percentage throws, and part of that means sometimes players are going to make plays on you. We’ve had some big plays made on us this year,” Kelly said.
So, Alvarez made adjustments and helped the Mohigans roll to a 55-10 victory.
The third time Holgorsen heaved a well-directed pass at Richardson, Alvarez stepped up and batted the ball to the turf.
“The game was nowhere close to being over so I just kind of have to forget about it and move on,” Alvarez said. “If I let it hang around in my mind, he would have made some more big catches and I would’ve been letting every guy on the team down.”
After the two early grabs, Alvarez limited Richardson to just three more catches on the night, holding him out of the end zone and under 100 yards. He recorded four pass breakups and five tackles in the performance.
“Going up against a guy like Amir isn’t something you see every week so a lot of it comes down to preparation. Watching film just trying to pick up tendencies or any little thing that could give me an advantage was almost necessary with the talent he has,” Alvarez said. “Coach Kelly and coach [Marcus] Law gave me a big confidence boost when they just told to forget about all the recruiting rankings and the hype and realize that we’re about the same in size and athleticism and that they had faith in me to do the job the team needed.”
Alvarez, who bounced around the field without a steady position during his first three seasons at MHS, was welcomed into the secondary by Kelly with open arms.
While his resilience during game time plays into his skill at the position, he also relies a lot on speed, size, and background as a multi-sport athlete.
“All offseason we were making some changes to our defensive scheme and find players to fit into different places. We wanted our cornerbacks to be our fastest players. We wanted them to be like basketball players, and we told them all we wanted to do was guard,” Kelly said. “The first player that came to mind was Aaron.”
At 6-foot-3, Alvarez has plenty of frame to go with his speed and defensive skill, and was excited to fill the role needed.
“I always like to think that most wideouts never see a guy my size lined up across them,” Alvarez said. “That’s something that plays to my advantage. With this scheme coach Kelly is kind of telling the other team that our corners are bigger, stronger, and faster than your receivers so throw the ball if you want.”
