At Melrose High School (Memphis, Tennessee) earned All-Shelby Metro, Prep Star All-Southeast Region and High Tech Tennessee's Top Prospect List honors as senior two-way lineman.
He registered 229 tackles and 32 sacks during career and helped team win 1998 State Championship.
As a senior (2006), he was named Division II First-team All-American by College Sports Report after starting all 10 games and leading the team with eight sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.
As a junior (2005) at Central Arkansas, he was named first-team All-Gulf South Conference, First-team All-Region and Second- team All-American after starting all 14 games for Bears team that made NCAA Division II quarterfinals.
The next season, 2008, Ford played 14 games with three starts and totaled 26 tackles, two forced fumbles, and seven sacks.