Alexander turned down several offers for a PWO at BYU
This is the first in a series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 220) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.
SPOTLIGHT: 2/5/22
In his four years at Benjamin Franklin, Brigham Alexander was on a Chargers' team that made the 3A finals (in 2019) and then was pushed up to 4A and became a playoff team there (in 2021).
An offensive tackle, Alexander stands out not just from his size (6-8, 310 with an 84-inch wingspan), but with his play. He was a First Team All-4A Desert Sky Region performer last season. He's a determined athlete that has worked hard on both his form and his technique.
Last summer, Alexander hit the camp circuits, competing at Northern Arizona, BYU, Arizona, and at the Arizona Combine. July brought team football camp for Benjamin Franklin up in Round Valley. Before the season began, the offers started to come in. Lyon College (Ark.) and NAU were the first to extend them in August. In October, he took BYU up on a preferred walk-on opportunity and committed to the Cougars. A few days later, he was there at LaVell Edwards Stadium when Brigham Young won a wild 66-49 game against Virginia, coached by Bronco Mendenhall, who returned to Provo for the first time since leaving BYU in the same role after the 2015 season. The Cougar O-Line was paving the way for Tyler Allgeier, who ran for 266 yards on 29 carries and tied the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game with five.
For Alexander, playing at BYU has always been a dream of his. His mother is an alumna and he has three sisters going to the Y now. Alexander and his brothers were raised watching Cougar football games.
"I look up to several of the players and coaches there," Alexander said in an e-mail interview. "I believe BYU has one of the best combinations of competitive athletics, prestigious academics, and moral standards. I am made to play there. It's in my blood!"
BYU was a longtime member of the Western Athletic Conference, which then became the Mountain West Conference. Since 2011, the Cougars have competed in football as an independent, but that will soon be changing. BYU is one of four teams that will join the Big 12 Conference for the 2023 season. Alexander is very excited about BYU being a Power Five team.
"Finally, BYU football is getting the attention it deserves," Alexander said. "They have been growing very quickly in the past few years and I'm certain their program will be successful, especially since they had a 5-0 record against Pac-12 teams last year."
Alexander carries a 4.5 GPA and has applied for academic scholarships, that he should be able to get, to help supplement his university expenses.
Benjamin Franklin is a charter school in Queen Creek (enrollment: 706). Alexander said playing for the Chargers has been a great experience and he is sad to leave.
"The coaches are great and I have loved playing with the guys on the team," Alexander said. "There is a great sense of community at Franklin, and even though we have a small program (42 on the varsity roster), we used this sense of camaraderie to be successful year after year."
Obviously, being 6-8 and 310 pounds has its advantages when your job on the offensive line involves not permitting the defender to get past you into the backfield. However, Alexander says it's his mind that sets him apart when it comes to his work on the field. It's usually through the run game as the Chargers averaged 251 yards on the ground utilizing their triple-wing formation. It fools defenses because they don't know which of the three options will not only take the ball, but which way they'll go.
"On and off the field, I am a perfectionist," Alexander said. "That helps me strive to have the most perfect form and technique for pass blocking. Run blocking is a different story. It is all about attitude. I can shift my focus from protect to attack to drive my opponents into the dirt while run blocking."
In addition to football, Alexander played soccer and wrestled. In his sophomore year, he qualified for state on the mat. He also saw some time on the defensive side of the ball as a nose guard last season and had 14 tackles, three sacks, a fumble recovery, and a blocked field goal. He was moved up to varsity during his freshman year and has football roots in the family. His grandfather played the game at both Utah State and in the Canadian Football League.
The records will show that Benjamin Franklin, which started its program in 2014, went 26-16 over the past four years. In addition to the wins, there were plenty of memories for Alexander such as being named Homecoming King and lining up in the backfield and plowing through on a two-yard TD run on the same night against Seton Catholic last September.
"I will miss my boys and the tight bonds I have with the team," Alexander said. "Our strength is our unity, that we all play for each other. That is how we ended with a winning record."
BYU had 25 total signees in the December and February signing periods. That list includes defensive linemen Brooks Jones (ALA-Queen Creek) and Cooper Ross (Heritage Academy Mesa). Those five wins against the Pac-12 accounted for half of the Cougars' victories during a 10-3 season. BYU was ranked as high as No. 10 and finished at No. 19 to make it back-to-back seasons in the Top 20 for the first time since 2006-07. In December, the Cougars played in the Independence Bowl on a rainy and cold day in Shreveport, La.
Alexander will be taking a two-year break from the game of football and will join the Cougars in time for the 2024 season.
"I will be serving a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and then coming back to play," Alexander said.
Support our sponsors:
Make sure to follow ArizonaVarsity.com on social platforms for more daily content!
Twitter (Arizona Varsity Podcast Network)
