Brandon Alexander has been handed a torch and asked to hold it high and proud in helping lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
And to all those who know or have been associated with him – even back to his high school and college days – understand the responsibilities of leadership are in good hands with the 25-year-old Orlando product.
Alexander, you see, has been a hard-hat and lunch-pail guy for years now. Nothing has been handed to him, ever, on the football field and it’s with that foundation that he attacks every day.
So when the topic of leadership is broached with the third-year Bomber, the conversation starts right there.
“I’ve always just been a work-hard guy who keeps his head down and his nose clean,” said Alexander in a recent chat with bluebombers.com. “I stay out of trouble and just do everything that is required. Every single day I come in and I work and work and work. I talk when spoken to and speak out when it’s needed. It’s not about picking spots, it’s about knowing when you need to say something or something needs to happen. That’s just how it progressed, even when I was in college.
“In my rookie year and last year, I wanted to just show by example. The speaking part comes with time when people start to get a feel for who you are. Now it’s about the speaking part because my teammates already know how I come out here and how I practice.”
Alexander’s story has been told here before. A brief refresher: the son of former NFL first-rounder and Florida State star Derrick Alexander, he was a 150-pound defensive end/receiver in high school who never had a college scholarship offer. He was given a shot as a walk-on at Central Florida, then switched to the secondary and over his time with the Knights, was twice nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy, awarded annually to the college football player who began as a walk-on.
He parlayed his college performance into a shot with the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, but had walked away from the game and was working as a teacher when the Bombers came calling in 2016 with an opportunity to attend a free agent camp.
Three years later, he’s now considered one of the team’s emerging leaders, especially now that his mentor – long-time cornerback Chris Randle – has moved on to the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
“Chris Randle is one of the guys I looked to when I came here,” Alexander explained. “When I first came here he talked to me about the game and how to approach it, about how to watch film, the CFL and the ‘Waggle’… he taught me a lot of stuff. He told me, ‘You are a leader’ and he’d even have me talk in the meeting room as a rookie. I didn’t realize that he was grooming me for this.
“I still talk to him today. He’s asking me how it’s going and what’s different this year in terms of the leadership. I’m thankful for him.”
Randle will be missed in the room, but the Bombers are hardly suffering a leadership ‘void’ with his departure. This is a team, after all, that still employs the likes of Matt Nichols, Andrew Harris, Darvin Adams, Adam Bighill, Stanley Bryant, Jermarcus Hardrick, Pat Neufeld and has added veteran pieces like Chris Matthews and Willie Jefferson.
That said, there is a way in which Alexander carries himself that is infectious.
“Leadership is about being diligent to the game, rookie or not,” explained Alexander. “If you’ve got a rookie putting in work, watching film day in and day out and he presents it the group, that’s leadership in itself.
“Everybody has a different story of how they came up, a different background. All that brings the leader out of you. God forbid you had a death in the family and had to take a leadership role in the house. Or you’re a walk-on and you come in and learn every position and are 100 percent in the practices and meeting rooms and build that over the years.
“You know,” added Alexander, “being a leader doesn’t mean everybody is going to like you or accept you. Being a leader means that regardless of the situation you help pull everybody through. At the end, you hope people understand why you did it at the time. It has to be organic. It can’t be fake.”
Alexander was asked to list the leaders in his life and began, instantly, with his mother. He also mentioned his grandparents and considers his step father, Travis Warren, as someone who has been very influential.
“Everyone’s mom is like a superhero, right?” said Alexander with a grin. “I also give a lot of credit to my stepdad. He came in when I was two and treated me as if I was his own son. I love him to death for what he’s done for me. He taught me how to be a man, how to work hard, how to speak properly, all these things when I was growing up… I wouldn’t be here without him.”
Alexander is also very much in touch with his biological father, who played in 73 NFL games with Minnesota and Cleveland.
“I talk to him all the time,” he said. “I talked to him just last week and we were talking about how to approach this season. On the football side, he knows everything. I get all my knowledge from what he’s been through in college and in the NFL. He can help me with things I still don’t know about to this day.
“I’ve been fortunate to have so many people around me in my life who helped influence me.”
