VERMILLION, S.D.—
Alex Jensen was a 6-foot-7, 210-pound high school tight end whose qualifications for becoming a Division I football player were not obvious. Less likely still – actually a little unbelievable when you think about it – was the idea that after a redshirt year and a freshman season down the depth chart he'd emerge as a starter at offensive tackle as a sophomore.
And yet at the same time, his line coach,
Andrew Prevost, doesn't seem totally shocked that Jensen, now 260 pounds but still undersized for an offensive tackle, is beginning to make significant contributions at a vital position within the University of South Dakota offense.
"He's very talented," said Prevost, who was the tight end coach recruiting Jensen out of Wayzata High School in the Twin Cities three years ago. "He's disciplined, driven and a master of his craft. It allows him to play a little lighter right now. He wins every hand placement, and every foot placement. He takes perfect first steps. He puts himself in position to be successful all the time."
Last spring, the Coyotes needed bodies at offensive tackle occasionally because so many linemen were unavailable because of injuries. The first few days Jensen, ever the team guy to this point in his USD career, would step in and take snaps at tackle to keep practices moving.
"As practices moved on and I became more comfortable with it, I realized 'Yea, maybe this is a good transition,'" Jensen said. "And not just for me, but for the team. This could really benefit both parties."
The Coyote coaching staff was in agreement he should take this spring ball experiment and run with it, so to speak. As has often been the case with Coyote football recruits, he came to USD as a versatile performer with a background in basketball in addition to football. He was part of the first Wayzata team since 1959 to make it to the state high school tournament as a senior. He also played a full schedule of AAU games during the summers. Coupled with football workouts, there wasn't a lot of downtime in the summer or any other time.
"I was constantly playing one sport or the other or both at the same time," Jensen said. "Balancing the two was a good time."
And speaking of balance, that was crucial to making the adjustment from basketball to football, then from receiver to lineman. The progression definitely had some logic to it in hindsight.
"Basketball built the foundation for me," Jensen said. "I didn't know it at the time, but you're always moving your feet and you're trying to stay in front of somebody. That's what you have to do at the O-line position and in basketball. I was taught that for I don't know how many years. I know now it helped."
Once he knew he was going to be a lineman, Jensen targeted 270 pounds as where he wanted to be when fall camp began. As a game program would reveal, he didn't quite make it. It wasn't for a lack of trying, though, and he's not done trying. He'd like to be at 290 pounds by next season.
"There can't be an hour or two where you don't put something in your body," Jensen said. "You have to be constantly eating something. After workouts or before bed or in the middle of the night, you have to have a shake. You always have to be feeding your body. It's more difficult than it sounds."
With Oklahoma coming up after a loss to Montana last Saturday, the Coyotes have much to do as they continue the process of getting ready for the Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule which begins Oct. 5 vs. Indiana State at the DakotaDome. Better play from the offensive line will have to be part of that, but one of the bright spots within the opening loss was the play of Jensen.
"If you would have asked me if he was going to be a 260-pound starter as a sophomore against Montana – well, I don't know about that," Prevost said. "And furthermore, then for him to grade out as well as he did on Saturday was another pleasant surprise. But I'm never going to doubt Alex. He got up at 5:30 to lift all summer because he had a real job to go to. He has a 3.9-something GPA and he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. There is nothing the kid is bad at."
Saturday, this promising progression makes a stop in Norman where the Coyotes will play No. 4 Oklahoma. It's another in a long list of improbabilities as Jensen continues to grow – both figuratively and literally in this case – as a left tackle.
"It's going to be a great opportunity for the team," he said. "A lot of people are going to have their opinions about the game and what they expect, but we see it as an opportunity to learn from our last game. Yes, it's going to be a big game and we're going to be excited about it. Being that it will be my second game as an offensive tackle, I see it as an awesome experience."
