Austin Alexander can play gospel, pop and church music on the piano.
Cooper’s junior defensive end/tight end also taught himself to play bass guitar.
But college football programs are more interested in how Alexander embarrasses opposing offenses. He’s spending the summer visiting numerous NCAA Division I colleges unofficially.
There’s already one postseason plaque in Austin’s trophy case – he won the TriStatefootball.com Kentucky Defensive Player of the Year award last season.
Alexander said the attention he’s receiving has not overtaken him.
“It’s been more fun than overwhelming,” he said.
Cooper head coach Randy Borchers believes defense is Alexander’s destiny.
“Most (colleges are seeing him as an edge rusher, more of a defensive end/edge rusher depending what type of defense teams are running,” Borchers said.
In two seasons, Alexander has 146 tackles, including a team-high 85 last season.
Edge rushers, who line up outside offensive tackles or tight ends, can be defensive ends in a 4-3 alignment or outside linebackers in a 3-4. They can either rush the quarterbacks or drop back as a more traditional 4-3 linebacker.
“I can do a little mix of everything,” Austin said. “Being an edge rusher, you are rushing that edge, but sometimes (you) have to go through that person’s chest, or sometimes you have to dip into the inside to set up some sort of stunt or blitz.”
‘Always staying grounded’
If you’ve followed Northern Kentucky high school football even a little, Alexander’s surname should be familiar: Boone County/Alabama/NFL star Shaun Alexander is his uncle. Austin said Shaun’s advice is simple.
“He really emphasizes my faith and just always staying grounded,” said Austin, who attends Seven Hills Church in Florence. “No matter what success comes … just always stay grounded and give everything to God.”
Shaun Alexander, meanwhile, enjoys following Austin’s exploits from his home in Purcellville, Virginia.
“Everything … has just been fun, watching him grow, watching my brother (Austin’s dad, Durran Alexander) experience this again,” Shaun said. “From a front-row seat, you know what I mean?”
“My biggest thing for Austin was, man, enjoy all of this,” he said. “You’ll blink your eyes, and you’ll be a dad with kids and married … If you don’t make fond memories, you miss the other blessings.”
Austin Alexander perhaps watched YouTube videos of Shaun torching LSU for 291 yards and four touchdowns in the Crimson Tide’s 26-0 win on Nov. 9, 1996, and he may have seen parts of the 2005 MVP season with the Seattle Seahawks, in which he ran for 1,880 yards and 27 scores.
But his favorite videos were possibly from Shaun’s Boone County days, where Shaun ran for 6,662 yards and 110 touchdowns, including 3,166 with 54 his senior year in 1994.
“It’s really interesting, just seeing him, of course, wearing those huge (shoulder) pads and also a team that I’m familiar with,” Austin said. “Just him running against these kids and just dominating. It’s very interesting.”
Shaun doesn’t apologize.
“That’s how it was back then,” he said. “Emmitt Smith and Herschel Walker and some of the greats from the SEC, I thought, ‘Dang, their pads are big’. … It is funny; they were huge.”
Power 5 touring
As a sophomore-to-be last summer, Austin Alexander, who stands 6-3 and weighs 245 pounds, received looks from smaller programs – Miami-Ohio, Akron and Gardner-Webb were among them. This June, however, has been a tour of unofficial visits to Power 5 programs, including Ohio State, Clemson, North Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky and Duke and Louisville.
Austin and Durran went to Michigan’s camp last week. The obvious differences from Shaun’s recruitment: summer camps at most colleges, social media influencers and college athletes earning money via Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).
Durran Alexander said schools can’t talk potential NIL deals this year. He’s a football purist – he thinks schools should hold the NIL money until a student-athlete is on campus and has done something,
“But everybody has to mention something about it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate in the one sense … I am in favor of the players getting something, but now it’s from the onset.
“Whatever it is, 60,000, 70,000, 100,000 are coming to see you, absolutely, I think NIL is there. But even a part of this recruiting game, it’s crazy.”
To be sure, Shaun Alexander had his share of national high school notoriety – Parade Magazine and USA Today named him to their All-America teams, and he was Kentucky’s Mr. Football in 1994.
“With (Austin) it’s totally different,” Shaun said. “Everybody’s got social media, people are talking to him, about him.”
Austin Alexander said getting a taste of notoriety at a young age can adversely affect performance.
“They just think they’re better than everyone around them,” he said. “They don’t think they have to train anymore.”
Alexander the younger took a few piano lessons years ago to learn music theory. He gave it up for a while, preferring to play in the school band.
“And then COVID hit,” he said, “and during then I realized I could pick it back up. I pretty much taught myself over COVID and just continued playing.
“And now I play a few hours every day.”
Alexander took up the bass six months ago. “Bass guitars are cool, so I got one, I learned it. I got decently far skill-wise.”
The Jaguars open the 2023 season Aug. 18 at Bardstown. Alexander’s 2023 goal is one you’d expect: improve on last year’s 6-5 record and win a Class 5A playoff game for the first time since 2018.
“We’re returning a lot of excellent players and players I can’t wait to play with,” he said. “We’re going to have a solid defense.”