Arizona running back coach Alonzo Carter is 'Too Legit to Quit'

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — After a long day at training camp ahead of a new season, the Arizona Stadium weight room is often empty after sunset.

Well, almost empty. That’s when running backs coach Alonzo Carter is just getting started.

“Get my peace of mind, cut my music on and go for a walk,” he said of his routine.

Carter usually takes a five-mile walk a few times a week.

He calls it “Five Alive.” He says the name comes from his friend and fellow football coach Otis Yelverton, who goes by ‘Coach O.’

Carter also credits coaches Kevin McGiven and Kevin Cummings with pushing him to be active.

Good friend and college roommate Greg Raleigh helped Carter by emphasizing the importance of building a healthy diet on a budget as a college student. Raleigh is now a sports nutritionist in Washington D.C.

Carter started his ‘Five Alive’ routine during the pandemic, took a break, then revived it earlier this year. He says he’s already lost more than 20 pounds this time.

“Healthy heart, healthy mind,” he said. “That’s a real thing.”

KGUN 9’s Ryan Fish joined him for a recent evening walk in order to walk a mile in his shoes.

Carter followed head coach Brent Brennan to the University of Arizona from San Jose State. He grew up across the bay in Oakland. And his backstory is “too legit to quit.”

Carter was a backup dancer, lead choreographer and ‘posse leader’ for hip-hop icon MC Hammer. They went on tour together, with Carter also appearing in Hammer’s music videos and as a recording artist on the record ‘Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em.’

Carter thought back to that experience: “As a 17-year-old dad, that helped change my life.”

More than 30 years later, Carter and Hammer are still close.

“You’ll see him at some [Arizona Football] games this fall, so get ready,” Carter told KGUN.

“And everything I learned from him, I just poured it into coaching.”

Carter wanted to give high school kids the same opportunity to live out a dream. So he went back to his alma mater, McClymonds High School in Oakland, to start coaching football.

Today, that drive makes him one of the Wildcats’ top recruiters.

“I always ask: Give me the inner city [to recruit],” he said. “I wanna go change lives. I wanna touch people’s lives.”

And Carter is motivating the players already on the team.

“We wanted to challenge them and take them to the next level,” he said.

“It’s no favoritism with Coach Carter,” said running back Quali Conley, who played at San Jose State under Carter last season. “You gonna get his best every day. We have to give him our best.”

“He just wants you to be, like the best person, the best player you can be on the field,” said Wildcat running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt.

But Carter also wants to motivate non-athletes to take positive steps. He often records a video on his phone during his ‘Five Alive’ walks and posts to social media.

“I hope this video inspires somebody, because I love when you guys inspire me,” he said in a recent video.

Carter says the simple videos have already gained a following of people inspired to get moving in their lives.

“I had a lot of people just telling me how, they were struggling with, whether it be diabetes, or high blood pressure, or obesity itself, just wanting to lose weight,” he explained. “And I like showing myself, trying to get that work, showing them if I can do it, I know you can do it… Health is wealth is the main thing.”

With a mind to rhyme and two hyped feet, Carter is grateful for his journey and for something as simple as these walks.

“It gives me a reminder of where I came from, and where I’m trying to go,” he said. “‘Cause one day I’m gonna be a head coach.

“I’m living my dream.”

Until then, he’ll keep moving forward one step at a time.