AMITE CITY, La. – DeVonta Smith only lets one man cut his hair, and so every few weeks, Vincent Sanders makes the five-hour drive to Tuscaloosa for 20 minutes of work.
Smith’s hairstyle is not elaborate or complex. No braids, no afro, no intricate shavings. On a Tuesday afternoon before Alabama’s fourth day of camp, Smith points to his closely cropped hair that in three days will go from short to shorter during another one of Sanders’s visits.
This is peculiar even by south Louisiana standards, a barber hauling 300 miles to perform a trim. But the relationship between these two people—a 19-year-old Alabama receiver and a 47-year-old hulking hairstylist—runs deeper than client and barber.