Practicing football in 90 degree heat with humidity levels high seems like a daunting task, but for Clemson cornerback Mackensie Alexander, it is a walk in the park.

“I’m not going to say it is easy, but I make it look easy because I work hard,” he said.

Alexander gets his work ethic from his parents, who, like their son, have spent a lot of their days in the hot son. But they were not playing a game they love. Instead, they were working in the hot fields of South Florida picking tomatoes.

In fact, Alexander’s father still works in the tomato fields.

“It is good for me when I hear that. We talk on the phone every two days and talk about how he is doing and stuff like that,” he said. “It is motivation, it’s a grind and it is motivation for me. We are a blue collar family and we don’t come from much. For me, to keep seeing my dad doing those things, coming out here is pretty easy. That’s where the motivation comes from.”

Watching his parents work so hard drives the 5-foot-10, 190-pound defensive back to be the best at his position. He is determined to outwork his opponent every day, even those he competes against in practice such as Artavis Scott and Mike Williams to name a few.

Like all college students, his goal at the end of the day is to get a college degree, but he admits that isn’t why he came to Clemson.

“I’m here to win a national title,” he said. “That’s that. I’m going to get my degree and I am going to win a national title, and that is all I’m going to say. That’s all we are here for, to win a national title.”

Don’t get Alexander wrong, he has aspirations to one day play in the NFL, too. Known for being a student of the game, and for his late night hours studying and grading his film following a game, the redshirt junior works hard to be the best.

“It is even worse now,” he said. “I’m putting in more hours, and I’m more time like a quarterback. I’m putting in more time on everything.”

At his house, Alexander has a draw full of notes on every receiver, from all 12 opponents he can possibly match up against this coming season. He even has notes on his teammates, in case he has to play against them one day in the NFL.

“I spend more time now on film, every day after practices. I’m in there every day. It is a routine. It never stops,” he said. “The more time and hours I put into this is so I can be a better player, and put up better numbers than I did last year.”

When looking at the stats, it appears Alexander should have no issues improving on his numbers. He had just 22 tackles, no interceptions and six passes broken up in 766 snaps. But those numbers don’t define what Alexander was actually doing.

“He isn’t about getting interceptions. He doesn’t want his guy catching a ball,” Clemson secondary coach Mike Reed said. “That is what makes Mackensie different. That’s what makes him special.”

What Alexander did in 2014 was shut down one entire side of the field. Of the 388 attempts Clemson’s opponents threw in 2014, just 57 were thrown to Alexander’s side. That means nearly 80 percent of all the passing plays were thrown to the side of the field where he was not covering.

Of the 57 passes thrown in his direction, wide receivers caught just 20 of them for 4.91 yards per attempt.

Alexander, who gave up just two touchdowns in 2014 and none after Game 3 at Florida State, admits he wasn’t perfect, but he did not feel like he played a bad game last season.

“I can’t even say that. We all have a game that you did not play as well as you wanted to in the end, but for me, I was pretty consistent, pretty dominant,” he said. “That is tough to say. I can’t even answer that honestly. I had a lot of pretty good games and I have to keep doing that out here … keep competing, keep doing it in practice, enjoying it and having fun out here.”