There is a place and a need for specialists in football. This doesn’t just apply to punters and placekickers, either. Specialists can be fourth receivers, tight ends, fullbacks, and dime defenders in the secondary. Several dozen players are on a roster, creating numerous avenues for individuals to make a unique contribution to a team. Specialists matter. Yet, football teams have to have “generalists” in addition to specialists. They need every-down players who can repeatedly make plays but do so in different ways.
Bear Alexander wants to be a generalist, not a specialist, as USC football analyst Josh Webb explains:
“Alexander feels his options at USC are greater than the ones he had at Georgia. It is not very often that a top-100 commit (No. 56) flips from a national champion,” Webb wrote.
“Alexander is 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds and is growing. With Georgia taking guys like him and turning them into highly-sought commodities in the NFL draft, it might seem counter-intuitive for Alexander to leave Kirby Smart for a coach like Lincoln Riley. Yet it’s precisely because Georgia has such a track record that Alexander felt he would play more at USC. Georgia primarily used him in third-down situations, but Alexander felt he was more effective on first and second downs.
“‘I feel as if there wasn’t a significant amount of snaps [at Georgia],” Alexander said to ESPN. “I was more of a pass-rush specialist in year one, so coming into the spring, I wanted to be in a position where I could show my versatility as a player. I felt like I wasn’t able to do that at Georgia. I was a third-down specialist, and I’m more of a first-, second-down player. I can play every down.'”
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