Analysis: Danario Alexander's historic season

The senior makes a play for best wide receiver in MU football history.

By Sean Leahy

Published Dec. 4, 2009

When Jeremy Maclin left Missouri for the NFL this spring, he left behind a legacy of broken records and highlight reel plays.

Although he doesn't make people forget about Maclin, Danario Alexander at least makes them put the two in the same class.

The senior wide receiver has spent this season breaking many of Missouri's single-season receiving records and establishing his campaign as one of the best any Tigers' wideout has ever had.

Alexander holds the Missouri single-season marks for receptions (107), yards (1,664) and touchdowns (13) and though the Tigers finished 4-4 in conference, Alexander brought out his best for Big 12 play.

He finished the conference season with three 200-yard receiving games (Missouri had only four 200-yard receiving games in its history coming into the season) and caught a touchdown in six of eight games. He is averaging more than 200 yards over his last four games and had three touchdown catches more than 70 yards in Big 12 play.

But, as they often do, the statistics hide Alexander's intangibles. Whenever Missouri needed a big play, Alexander seemed to deliver on cue. His 68-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter against Kansas on Saturday gave Missouri its first lead of the game.

As for the rest of that quarter, Alexander ended up compiling 181 receiving yards — more than the rest of Missouri's receivers pulled in the entire game. The performance helped push Alexander to the highest average receiving total in the nation (137 ypg).

Part of the reason why he has racked up those big-yardage games is his knack for finding open field. With Alexander, it's after he catches the ball when the show begins. Showing the ability to stop on a dime and reverse direction in a blink, Alexander can evade defenders with ease. His gallop is deceptively quick and once he hits open field he is almost impossible to take down.

Against Kansas State on Nov. 14, Alexander had his helmet popped off after fighting for more yards on a catch. He was finally brought down amid a hail of Wildcat defenders. Indeed, it usually takes more than one player to take down the 6-foot-5-inch, 215-pound receiver.

This special senior season has not gone unnoticed by the Big 12. Alexander is the first Big 12 wide receiver to win conference offensive player of the week twice in a season and, on Tuesday, he was named first team All-Big 12. After coming off two injury-plagued seasons, Alexander finally got the opportunity to show his stuff and he didn't waste it.

One list Alexander does not grace is the Biletnikoff Award, given to the country's best wide receiver. The semi-finalists were announced in October, and Alexander had not yet gone on his record tear.

Regardless, Alexander still has established himself as a top receiver in the country, one year after Maclin did the same.

The term "Maclin-esque" was thought to be stored away after his departure from Missouri, but Alexander has taken it back out before it could accumulate any dust.