Going from a walk-on for his collegiate football team to becoming one of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive backs, Brandon Alexander has had a difficult road to get to where he is today.
"I was playing out of position in high school for three and a half years. I was playing defensive end and I was 140-150, but then I walked over to UCF (University of Central Florida) and I had my opportunity there when they put me at the corner," Alexander says.
While he says his size played a role in not getting a receiver role, he started defensive back. "They asked me what position I wanted to play and I said I wanted to play receiver and they kind of looked me up and down and was like, no, you're going to be DB."
After an injury sidelined him for two years, he had a tryout with the Bombers in 2017. "It's kind of how I got here and I mean that would be just an incredible story of just coming on as a trial, a walk-on, through college and now with the Blue Bombers." While it wasn't an easy road, Alexander says he wouldn't change anything if he did it over again.
Alexander, along with his teammates and most people in Winnipeg are looking forward to the annual Banjo Bowl set for Saturday, September 7 at Princess Auto Stadium against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a matchup of two of the top teams in the West Division.
When he's not busy with football, Alexander is also a musician. He goes by the name A'BA and has two EPs and one album out.
"I've been writing since about 2010, 2011, and I didn't take it seriously until hours of getting into the studio and actually trying it out until COVID-19 happened. I just had a lot of time on my hands and wondered what am I going to do now? I didn't know if football was going to be coming back and at that moment, I didn't know if anything else was going to happen. So I was like let me just try something out and see if I can make something of it, make something that I care about."
He says that while he hasn't done much music recently, "I was very proud of that album. It's what I've been doing and I definitely look forward to it for the future of what's going to come."
In 2023, he worked with Fresh IE on the song "For the W."
"I didn't know how the video was going to come out, and they had this feature right before the Great Cup, us versus Montreal that year. It was just amazing to see how all that came to fruition and even afterwards. Fresh and I started to hang out a lot. He became a really good friend of mine and I appreciate having him because the talks that we have and everything like that is what the purpose was for, it wasn't for us to come do it. It brought me back to where I needed to be aligned with God."
Every week, Alexander says that chaplain Lorne Koral hosts Bible Studies. "On day two of our practice, Lorne comes in and we have Bible study. Anywhere between five to 25 guys will show up and fellowship."
In the busy schedule, Alexander says his faith is very important. "You can get lost in what you're doing on a daily basis especially when it's on autopilot. When you're playing football, you're on a schedule OK this is how you do this boom boom boom. You can get lost in that. You have to turn that off and then you have to get home and now it's time to be family, man. Life can get in the way so fast but what's good about the schedule is the fact that no one has this moment in the midst of it. And it's like, oh yeah, I do have to do this."
Being able to read the Bible with a partner has been a way to keep him consistent in the Word. "I have a partner that we go in and we'll read the Bible in the morning, every day before we step out on the football field."
He also says that before every game, there is a Chapel service. "Go out there in the mornings at a certain time and be able to hear the Word before we actually step out on the field. Let's say the game could be at 5:30 p.m. and then we may have Chapel anywhere between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m."
Being the Chapel leader, he admits he doesn't do much differently, except when the chaplain is away. "Lorne ended up having to be away and I had to do the Chapel. It's different because even though these are my guys and we go to dinner together, I was still nervous like doing your job for the first time. You're doing it in front of everybody else. You don't want to seem like you don't know what you're talking about. I felt like I had to do more for myself. Getting into the Word for myself and being able to get back into it. I've always been a Believer but this is really one of the first years that I actually really dove into trying to dissect the Bible and talking to fellow believers."
"At the end of the day, all these things that we're given, we're allowed to be here because of what God has done for us. He's given us a platform to be able to go and fire His name. You know, football is just one part of life, but the Word of God and everything else in that spectrum is forever lasting."