Football player at Massachusetts college has only been playing the sport for a year
DARTMOUTH - A freshman college football player is dominating on the field in Dartmouth, Massachusetts and the most surprising thing is he only started playing the sport a year ago.
Ancil Alexander is a force to be reckoned with on the football field, fitting the mold of a prototypical, punishing defensive lineman. The defensive tackle freshman at UMass Dartmouth is already making his presence known, despite having just started playing football his senior year in high school.
"He's moving up our depth chart every single day that he gets to play," said Josh Sylvester, the head coach at UMass Dartmouth.
Joined team his senior year
At Taunton High School, Alexander said he spent the majority of his career flying under the radar. Known not for his brute strength but his skateboard.
"Everybody just knew me as the kid who comes in on his skateboard," said Alexander.
At 6'1" and 236 pounds, he finally caught the eye of Taunton's coaches when they saw him working on his own in the weight room.
"I saw this kid, this big kid lifting, deadlifting 500 pounds in the weight room and I'm like, 'Coach, who is this kid?' And he's like, 'Well, that's Ancil,'" said Taunton High School offensive line coach Mike Balzarini.
Head coach Brad Sidwell said it wasn't a tough sell when he went to convince Alexander to join the team.
"He's a very competitive kid, very driven. He loved to lift weights and was really strong," said Sidwell. "And so when he saw that that's part of the football culture, he got right into it.
"His first question was, 'Coach, I don't want to let you down. I don't want the team to lose because of me.' And I thought that was a great attribute that he's thinking about the team first," said Balzarini.
A blank slate when he picked up the sport, every aspect of the game was new to Alexander heading into his senior year.
"Even playing the game, I didn't even know what a first down was," said Alexander. "I was on the sideline asking people, like, what is a first down? What's considered a first down?"
A fast learner
But three games into the season, Sidwell said Alexander was elevated to a starter along the defensive line at nose tackle.
"It was just obvious that he was so physically gifted, we had to get him on the field," said Sidwell. "I said to him, it's not like you walk out and you have your resume in your hand and, hey, I've never played before. They don't know. They're going to see this big kid and they're going to go, 'Do I have to go against this kid the whole day?'"
Watching tape of NFL and college D-linemen, Alexander proved to be a quick study, growing comfortable wreaking havoc in opposing teams' backfields.
"It was really more about how fast I could learn the techniques and stuff and where I need to be placed on the line," said Alexander. "That was really tough for me and I'm still having a little bit of trouble with it today but I'm learning as I get through it."
His body of work, albeit brief, caught the attention of Sylvester. In the span of a year, Alexander went from first time football player to college football player.
"It still feels unreal that I'm playing college football because I didn't think I would get myself in this predicament but I'm glad I am in this predicament," said Alexander.