Tiger defender is off to spectacular start in final season

Caruthersville High School player Jermonte Alexander runs for yardage during a jamboree at Dexter High School last season.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

There is some bad news for the remaining teams on the Caruthersville High School football schedule this season, Tiger senior Jermonte Alexander not only returns for his final season but based on his performance in Friday’s season-opening rout of a very good St. Pius X (Festus) program, he has never been better.

“I don’t think that I have ever seen him take a play off in practice,” third-year Caruthersville coach Dom Guglielmo said of Alexander during training camp. “He is that type of kid. He elevates the team with his pure athleticism and the fact that he never has a bad attitude.”

Against the Lancers, what Alexander did at his defensive back position, would constitute a really nice SEASON for most players, and he did what he did in 48 minutes.

 Alexander picked off the three passes and totaled over 170 yards on those returns, two of which went for touchdowns.

“He had 12 last year,” Guglielmo said of Alexander’s interception total. “It was obscene.”

Alexander was an All-SEMO Conference Central Division First Team selection as a junior at wide receiver and will also start at defensive back for the Tigers this fall. He was an MFCA All-State Second Team honoree on defense a year ago.

“He understands how things get broken down,” Guglielmo said. “He can read the quarterback's eyes like nobody’s business.”

Guglielmo said that Alexander’s athleticism certainly helps in his ability to defend, but his talent is also mental.

“He can read the quarterback's eyes,” Guglielmo continued. “He can tell by the body language of the wide receiver. There was one interception, where he was in a backpedal because it was a fade route, he saw the quarterback’s eyes whip on a post (move), and he broke on that baby, boom, got it, gone.

“He just has intuition back there, plus the athleticism and all of that makes him really dangerous anywhere where there is a ball.”

And that includes offensively.

Lost in the defensive spectacle that Alexander had is the fact that he also accumulated nearly 90 yards receiving.

“Jermonte is smart within the game of football,” Guglielmo said. “He understands how the blocking fits into everything. He understands his role.

“Sometimes, he says ‘You threw me the ball, but you should have thrown him the ball.’”

Alexander and his teammates will continue their quest for a special season, on Friday, as they open Bootheel Conference play against Malden (0-1) at 7 p.m. at Hopke Field.

The Green Wave fell to Dexter 57-8 in their season opener.

“It’s a conference game,” Guglielmo said of his team’s focus on Friday, “if we don’t win it, there is a good chance that we won’t win the conference. Malden is a roadblock in our pursuit to win a conference title.”