Louisville football: The 50 greatest Cardinals of all time

Perhaps the most exciting defensive player to ever don a Louisville uniform is Jaire Alexander.

The flashy defensive back out of Charlotte, North Carolina was all set to be a South Carolina Gamecock until fate landed him on the Louisville football roster with a late-in-the-process de-commitment/commitment.

Besides being one of the rookie defensive breakout performers of the 2018 NFL Season and the star of the hilarious “Prancing GIF” that went viral, Alexander showed all kinds of next-level potential in his three collegiate years as a Cardinal.

As a feisty freshman, he totaled 19 tackles and an interception, but already offenses were beginning to scheme plays away from him. This would become a trend in his days at U of L, allowing his teammates to prepare a little easier. Over time, we all began to assume that simply no opposing quarterback wanted to throw into areas that he was lurking.

In fact, many times offensive coordinators would opt for deeper routes to occupy him in a one-on-one setting to free up the sideline for a cross route, a fade or a comeback. It was the little things that Alexander had a knack for that enabled the Louisville secondary to seem a little confusing.

In his sophomore year, Louisville had all the ingredients for a College Football Playoff run. One has to include the exceptional season of Lamar Jackson into the equation. The Cards were a balanced attack, both offensively and defensively. Alexander did his part, chipping in 31 tackles (one for a loss) and five interceptions, nine pass deflections, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

He completed the 2016 season as a member of the Second-Team All-ACC. His junior year was plagued with injury. He ultimately decided to sit out the 2017 Tax Slayer Bowl and forgo his senior year to enter the NFL Draft, where he was selected No. 18 overall by the Green Bay Packers.

To understand how good Alexander was, one cannot simply look at statistics alone. Alexander was so lethal at the corner spot that opposing teams were basically limited to running plays to one side of the field. Challenging Alexander was an effort in futility.

If one looks at just how much of a drop-off there was on Louisville’s defense as a whole when Alexander was out versus when he was in, then they can fully grasp how special Alexander was as a Cardinal.

Much was made about Jackson’s departure leaving way for a steep drop-off on the offensive side of the ball in 2018. But in 2017, when Alexander was sidelined with an injury for much of the season, Louisville was lost defensively.

Call it recency bias, but Alexander is quite possibly the best corner to ever suit up for Louisville football.