How This Football Player Overcame the Odds (and a Stint in Jail) to Make It to the NFL
Philip Wegmann /
When Maurice Alexander finished sweeping the aisles at Edward Jones Stadium, he used to find a seat behind the end zone and sit and dream.
One poor choice his junior year at Utah State in 2012 had ended the linebacker’s collegiate career, landed him in jail, then left him a janitor.
So when the Aggies football team asked Alexander to return for his senior year, he jumped at the second chance and began one of the most incredible comebacks in sports.
A 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound defensive standout with blazing speed, Alexander was a force to be reckoned with until an off-field indiscretion brought his career to a halt.
On Jan. 29, 2012, Alexander punched a fellow teammate at an off-campus party. He was swiftly cut from the team, subsequently expelled from school and later sentenced to a year in prison.
Forty-five days later, as part of a plea deal, Alexander returned home to Eureka, Mo., on parole. He took up work as a janitor at the Rams’ stadium, where he found the determination to turn his life around.
“Were it not for the team’s seventh-round choice of defensive end Michael Sam, Alexander’s story might have been the best story of the draft’s final day,” says ESPN’s Nick Wagoner
“That’s what really motivated me,” Alexander explained to ESPN. “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.’”
Fortunately for Alexander, the Aggie community didn’t give up on him. In 2013, coach Gary Andersen invited Alexander to return for his senior year.
“You have to pay a price when you make mistakes. That’s the way the world is. He did. I think we owe it to kids to give them a second chance,” Andersen told the Deseret News.
Coached on and off the field by Aggie staff, Alexander rebounded personally and professionally that season to lead his team to victory in the 2013 Poinsettia Bowl.
“For the first time in my life, I had to really deal with adversity. I fought, and I got back” Alexander recalled.
NFL scouts took notice.
St. Louis Rams general manager Les Snead said of Alexander’s troubled path: “That’s adversity that you’ve got to have some grit to get through. You love the passion.”
On May 9, 2014, the Rams selected Alexander with the 110th pick of the draft. He would play professional football at the stadium where he used to work as a janitor in the stands.
Though the Rams ended this season with a losing record, Alexander started the beginning of career he once only dreamed of.