Alabama commit Jeremiah Alexander earns fifth star

Tuesday’s update of the On300 for the 2022 football recruiting cycle saw Alabama EDGE commit Jeremiah Alexander earn his fifth star. The Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson standout moved up to No. 18 overall following a dominant start to his senior season for the nationally-ranked Warriors.

Alexander is one of the more productive players along the defensive front in the 2022 cycle. We don’t always see top EDGE and defensive line prospects make this type of impact on a snap-to-snap basis. Through six games, Alexander has totaled 43 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and six sacks. That’s despite not playing deep into many second halves due to blowout games.

Jeremiah Alexander dominates against top competition

We watched Alexander closely in Thompson’s big game against Trussville (Ala.) Hewitt-Trussville two weeks ago. The game was the biggest in the southeast that week and featured double-digit Power 5 and FBS prospects.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder was a dominant force on the edge and lived in the Hewitt-Trussville backfield for three quarters. Alexander did not play much of the fourth. He finished the game with eight tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, five quarterback hurries, one pass deflection (that went for a pick-six) and one fumble recovery.

Alexander is an extremely powerful player. He rocks opposing linemen back on contact and put a few on the ground throughout the game. As a pass rusher, he’s best using speed-to-power and when he has a runway to create some momentum for his bull rush. We also saw Alexander register a sack on an effective stunt.

Alabama commit Jeremiah Alexander had a big showing on Friday in one of the southeast’s biggest games. Alexander showed high-end power, finishing ability behind the line and effort level as you can see below https://t.co/dqpfvaFMzXpic.twitter.com/QOhLwvFRE4

— Charles Power (@CharlesPower) September 21, 2021

The Crimson Tide pledge also showed football intelligence and high effort on a snap to snap basis. He’s a highly communicative player and is constantly signaling and making sure his teammates are in the right spots. We saw the instincts and football IQ show up when Hewitt-Trussville ran two screens Alexander’s way. He blew up both by closing quickly to the quarterback and was able to tip the second, which resulted in a pick-six.

Alexander now ranks as the No. 2 EDGE prospect behind Marvin Jones, Jr. who is No. 1 overall. He is also one of six Alabama commits within the top 100 and one of 12 in the On300.