CLEMSON — Though Clemson might have received the raw end of the deal when linebacker Luke Ferrelli transferred to Ole Miss, at least one of his old teammates is benefiting from it.

Linebacker Jeremiah Alexander confirmed following Saturday’s practice at Memorial Stadium that he has worked exclusively at the middle linebacker spot through the first three practices of the spring.

“We are working a lot of base downs, so we just have two backers on the field, a MIKE and WILL,” he said.

With Alexander playing in the middle, Sammy Brown has been playing the weakside spot in Tom Allen’s defense.

“Later in the install, we will probably get into the three-down backer, 4-3,” Alexander said. “Right now we are just in our base defense with two backers on the field, so it is pretty simple.”

With Ferrelli gone, his absence opened up an opportunity in the middle for Alexander, who primarily played the strongside position last year.

Last year, Alexander played in all 13 games, including three starts at strongside linebacker. He finished with 33 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack and three passes broken up.

Ferrelli was the ACC Freshman of the Year when he was at Cal last season. He was expected to start alongside Brown this coming season.

“I have been told that I have to learn all three positions. The more, the better and more opportunity to play on the field,” Alexander said.

An opportunity he will get now that Ferelli is no longer on the team.