CLEMSON – In the mid-2010s, little league referees in Alabaster, Ala., could not help but notice that one player on the field did not exactly look like the rest of the pack.

The player’s name was Jeremiah Alexander, and, already wearing size 14 shoes in middle school, he was dominant on both the middle school baseball and football fields.

“(Referees) would tell me like I’ll play on Saturdays and stuff like that,” Alexander said. “And so it kind of started at a young age, just because I was bigger than everybody.”

Soon enough, the eighth grader, who dominated at running back, wide receiver and tight end, was called up to play with powerhouse Thompson High School’s varsity team as they embarked on a postseason run.

The only problem?

The Warriors’ coaches wanted Alexander to become a defensive lineman. Alexander wanted to score touchdowns.

“Honestly, I was kind of embarrassed because I used to have the ball in my hand, I got to score the touchdowns, and I didn’t really see it at the time,” Alexander said. “But freshman year, I kind of went out there and started playing a little bit more and the more I played, the better I got,” he continued. “And I saw that you can get paid just as well as you can at running back and receiver.”

Shortly, words of Alexander’s prowess spread through collegiate circles, and by his senior year at Thompson, the defender had earned a five-star recruiting classification as a defensive end and three state championships, alongside former Clemson player Peter Woods.

After committing to Nick Saban at the University of Alabama however, Alexander was not the topic of conversation, maybe for the first time in his athletic life. In three seasons with the Crimson Tide, the former edge rusher did not make any starts, though he did appear in 24 games across his second and third seasons. 

After graduating from Alabama and transferring to Clemson ahead of the 2025 season, things did not immediately get easier for the high school standout, especially with veteran players lined up ahead of him on the Tigers’ depth chart. 

Much like his high school coaches several years prior, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney wanted Alexander to make another position switch, this time to linebacker.

Even then, playing time was not guaranteed.

“I was telling a couple of seniors the other day how I started out at Bama as a five-star, didn’t get to play at all at Bama really, and then I transferred here and it’s still like an uphill battle,” Alexander said. “Being able to go out there and just play the game I love again has been a blessing and I can almost say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I know that each day is a war of itself. So just being able to stay focused and humble and continue to work day in and day out has been a blessing.”

With that mentality, Swinney and defensive coordinator Tom Allen took notice. Though he still had much to learn at this point last year, Alexander’s work ethic was never in question. He even spent extra time working out in the mornings ahead of the season with Woods and T.J. Parker, another Tiger defender and Alabama native.

“If everybody worked like Jeremiah Alexander, this would be the easiest job in America,” Swinney said.

So far In 2026, Alexander has paired that work ethic with an improved understanding of the linebacker position, and has started in all five of the Tigers’ (3-2, 2-1 ACC) games. So far, the 6-foot-2 athlete is credited with 35 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one pass breakup, nearly matching all of his previous statistics in just half of one season.

For the second time in his life, a position change may have been just the thing that Alexander needed.

“I actually called (Alexander) out in front of the whole team, the whole defense, recently just to say, man, there’s nobody on this team that’s worked harder than that young man has,” Allen said. “I’m just so proud of him.”

Now, Alexander and the Tigers will get their next chance to improve on Saturday, when Clemson hosts Charleston Southern in its annual Military Appreciation Game.

According to the Tigers’ starter, Clemson linebackers will enter the noon game at Memorial Stadium with some bravado.

“We’re playing relentless, we’re playing gritty and I just feel like the confidence is way higher than it was last year,” he said.