Nick Holt uses three of the most critical words from a coach to describe freshman linebacker Jaylan Alexander.
"I trust him," Purdue's defensive coordinator said Wednesday.
That "trust," mixed in with a foot injury to Derrick Barnes, resulted in Alexander getting his first career start last weekend at Michigan State. In what Alexander called "a good experience," the 230-pound 18-year-old made a career-high three tackles in 33 snaps of action during Purdue's 23-13 loss. While Alexander was considered the fourth linebacker on the depth chart since early August, the Purdue coaching staff had been careful with his playing time. By last weekend, the plan was different. Alexander played more snaps Saturday than in his previous five games combined.
The Suburban Chicago native, who says he grew up watching Big Ten football games as a kid, relished the idea of playing in Spartan Stadium and being able to tackle Spartan tailback LJ Scott, who he says he was familiar with.
"I've seen LJ Scott on television and so being able to start, tackle him and play a lot of snaps was really exciting," Alexander said. "My hope is if I'm able to get more snaps, then Coach Brohm and Coach Holt will trust me more and think I'm ready to make plays at this level."
Alexander, a former three-star prospect specifically recruited by Holt, is already starting to prove to veteran starters that he's not out of place in Purdue's rotation.
"He belongs out there," junior co-captain Markus Bailey said. "He's still making freshman mistakes. Not as many as before, don't get me wrong, and we all made the mistakes he'll make, trust me. But I think he's proven he can handle more and more."
After arriving at Purdue, Alexander was quickly informed by Holt he'd be needed in his first year of college. Despite playing both linebacker and wide receiver at a Class 6A Illinois high school, Alexander immediately felt the difference between the high school and major college football.
"(Holt) told me before fall camp started that, 'You're going to get thrown into the fire' and Markus (Bailey) and the other linebackers told me (Holt) didn't want to redshirt anybody because we didn't have any depth."
After having played his fifth game two weeks ago against Ohio State, Alexander no longer qualifies for the new NCAA redshirt rule and that's a testament to how much he's absorbed from Holt since the start of fall camp.
"It took me a while to get used to how he coaches," Alexander said of Holt. "He wants everything perfect and that's OK because it seems like in the Big Ten, you have to have everything close to perfect to make this work."
Even eight games into his college career and entering the final month of his first season, Alexander is humbled enough to admit he still doesn't feel completely mentally aware of everything he's being asked to do. Bailey, who appeared in three games in 2015 as a backup during his true freshman season before injuring his knee, said Alexander's feelings are completely natural for a first-year player still learning the system.
"Jaylan is a really good football player for a young kid and that's why he's playing," Holt said. "Is he a fantastic football player right now? No. But he's going to be a really good player and the more he plays, the better he gets. He's really stepped up."
Holt's concern for these final four regular season games is the amount of snaps sophomore middle linebacker Cornel Jones is being asked to play. In his last four games, Jones has averaged 80.5 snaps per game, according to Pro Football Focus. In a system that requires so much out of the second unit of Purdue's defense, Holt realizes a fourth and even fifth linebacker will be needed to not burn out the likes of Jones, Bailey and Barnes as Purdue prepares to face Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana in the month of November. Alexander is that perfect candidate to subsidize the workload for the veteran leaders of Purdue's linebacker room.
"We've got to get other guys in the game," Holt said. "We've got to play our best guys but we also need to build our depth. There's a bunch of bodies out here but these bodies out here need to prove it to us so that we trust them to put them in the game."
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