From Cleaning Floors to Clearing Offenses: Maurice Alexander

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As a child born and raised in St. Louis, Maurice Alexander didn’t get the chance to attend many football games live. The closest he ever got to the field – the field where most of his professional football dreams were set in – was as a janitor, clearing up after Rams games.

“[Working at the Edward Jones Dome is] what really motivated me, seeing myself working there and being around that field,” Alexander said. “Every time I went to work, I always sat on the end of the field, and I looked at it like, ‘This could be my dream spot.’”

When Alexander wasn’t in class or at the stadium, he worked on his football at Eureka High School in southwest St. Louis County and Arizona Western junior college as a defensive lineman and linebacker.

In 2012, Alexander returned to the Edward Jones Dome.

He had just spent the last two years as a linebacker at Utah State (USU). In his first year at the collegiate level, Alexander posted 79 total tackles, including nine for a loss, and in two seasons accumulated 125 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and seven pass breakups, inching closer than ever to his goal of becoming a pro football player.

But this time was different. This time, standing at the edge of the field he had worked at for years, he had never felt so close yet so far from his lifelong dream.

USU removed Alexander from the team after he got in a fight with teammate Joey DeMartino, causing DeMartino to undergo emergency surgery for broken bones in his left eye socket, a fractured cheekbone and multiple stiches. Alexander, who had originally faced a second-degree felony, was ordered to serve 365 days in jail, pay a $1,500 fine, spend a year on probation and pay $21,341 in restitution fees. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor, and the court suspended all but 45 days of the jail sentence, and ordered Alexander to pay $2,342 in extradition costs.

Banished from USU, Alexander returned to the source of his childhood aspirations, the familiar sanctity of the Edward Jones Dome.

Resuming his former position as a janiotor, Alexander turned the focus on his education in order to get back into the good graces of USU.

When he returned to Utah State senior year, he was asked to make the switch from linebacker to safety – a difficult move by any means – and within a season nonetheless. But Alexander found that a year away from football had given him time to reaffirm his football knowledge.

In his final year at USU, he earned All-Mountain West honorable mention with 80 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 9 tackles for a loss. And was invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where he raised his stock further with a 4.5-second 40-yard dash. On Saturday, 10 May 2014, the St. Louis Rams gave Maurice Alexander the ultimate second chance, using their sole fourth round draft pick on him, taking him 110th overall. The decision left several St. Louis fans scratching their heads, including St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer, Jim Thomas.

 

 


But St. Louis has a history of giving second chances. Remember their second round selection of cornerback Janoris Jenkins? Jenkins had been a first-round talent whose stock fell on draft day after being kicked off the Florida Gators team for marijuana-related legal issues. What about their consideration of Titus Young despite the player’s banishment from the Detroit Lions three separate times? Maurice Alexander’s case doesn’t even compare. This wasn’t a risky choice for the Rams. This is a player who finally has his priorities in check.

This is a player who knows what it means to make mistakes that have consequences.


This is a player who has suffered a year without football, and will not take that for granted again.

There will continue to be those who doubt him. Doubt that he’ll be anything more than a backup for second-year safety T.J McDonald. Doubt that he’ll be able to play as a coverage safety if that’s what the team needs him. Doubt that he can keep a handle on his off the field issues and be a player the Rams can rely on.

But all the fans and media who doubt him are secondary. It is the opinion of Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams and the rest of the Rams coaching staff that Alexander needs to impress.

Until that time comes, these are the words that will ring in his head: Wakeup to football, Dream football, Born with football

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