Alexander Wright (American football)
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| Position: | Kick returner | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | July 19, 1967 Albany, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Albany (Albany, Georgia) | ||||||||
| College: | Auburn | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1990 / Round: 2 / Pick: 26 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||
Alexander Wright (born July 19, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Raiders and St. Louis Rams. He was a two-time winner of the NFL's "Fastest Man" competition. He played college football at Auburn University.
Early years
Wright attended
College career
He accepted a football scholarship from Auburn University. He was initially a defensive back, but because of his poor tackling and lack of run support abilities, he was moved to wide receiver as a sophomore. As a junior in his first start, he faced the University of Tennessee, tallying 3 receptions for 108 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown. In the season, he registered 12 receptions for 279 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Wright developed slowly on the offensive side of the ball and didn't see much playing time, until becoming a starter as a senior after replacing the graduated Lawyer Tillman. In the season opener against the University of the Pacific, he registered single-game school records with 263 receiving yards (52.6 average) and 4 touchdowns. Against the University of Tennessee, he collected four receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown.
He had an outstanding game against the
Wright finished in the school's all-time top ten career receiving list with 56 receptions for 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns. He still holds the record with a career average of 23.57 yards per reception.[2] One-out-of-five of his 56 receptions went for touchdown with an average distance of over 57 yards. Of his 11 touchdown receptions, 6 were longer than 50 yards. He also scored in 4 out of the 12 times he ran a reverse run.
He also practiced
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | Vertical jump | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
184 lb (83 kg) |
30+1⁄2 in (0.77 m) |
8+1⁄2 in (0.22 m) |
4.42 s | 1.53 s | 2.64 s | 35.5 in (0.90 m) | |||||
| All values from NFL Combine[3] | ||||||||||||
Dallas Cowboys
Wright was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round (26th overall) of the 1990 NFL draft, the first wide receiver to be chosen and the first pick of the round.[4] Although he was considered a raw football player, he was also seen as a gifted athlete with elite speed.
He was intended to become a deep threat wide receiver, to complement running back Emmitt Smith, chosen in the first round of the same draft. As well as Smith, he also had a long (40 days) rookie contract holdout, that forced him to miss most of training camp and the first two preseason games.[5] In the second game against the New York Giants he returned a kickoff for a 90-yard touchdown.
In
Wright was one of the fastest players in the league, winning the
He did not develop as well as expected, however, and when later asked about his performance, he admitted "I was never a polished package". At the end of the 1991 season, the Cowboys began looking for trade offers. On October 13, 1992, he was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick (#96-Ron Stone), when he still had no receptions following the first five games of the season.[8]
Los Angeles Raiders
Wright was acquired to complement Tim Brown and Willie Gault in the team's speed-driven offense. In 1993, he became a full-time starter and had his most productive season, recording 27 receptions for 462 yards. During the final game of that season and with the Raiders trailing the Denver Broncos 23–30, he caught the game-tying touchdown pass from Jeff Hostetler and the Raiders went on to win the game 33–30, while earning a spot in the playoffs.[9]
In
St. Louis Rams
On March 22, 1995, he was signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Rams.[11] A bulging disk in his lower back forced him to miss the last 8 games of the season.[12] The next year his back problems resurfaced and he was limited to 3 games.[13] He retired after the 1996 season, due to health reasons related to his back.
Statistics
| Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | GP | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Lng | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Lng | Tot | OwR | Yds |
| 1990 | DAL | 15 | 11 | 104 | 9.5 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | DAL | 16 | 10 | 170 | 17.0 | 0 | 53 | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1992 | DAL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1992 | LAR | 10 | 12 | 175 | 14.6 | 2 | 41t | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1993 | LAR | 15 | 27 | 462 | 17.1 | 4 | 68t | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 1994 | LAR | 16 | 16 | 294 | 18.4 | 2 | 76t | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 1995 | STL | 8 | 23 | 368 | 16.0 | 2 | 50 | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||
| 1996 | STL | 3 | 2 | 24 | 12.0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 7 seasons | 87 | 101 | 1597 | 15.8 | 10 | 76t | 6 | 42 | 7.0 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
Coaching career
In 1999, Wright earned the
In 2003, he served as the wide receiver coach for Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Missouri. In 2004, he was the wide receiver coach for West Texas A&M University. In 2005, he was hired to be the offensive coordinator at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was the offensive coordinator for Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas. He then took a role as the athletic director and head football coach at San Jacinto Christian Academy in Amarillo, Texas, in which he served from 2008 t o 2010. He also assisted with the track team.
Wright later moved to San Antonio for his ministry. He is the current President and CEO for Alexander Wright Ministries in Amarillo. He is also a pastor at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.
References
- ^ Malcolm Moran, Special to The New York Times (December 3, 1989). "Alabama Tripped Up By Auburn". NY Times. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "AUBURN VS. WASHINGTON STATE PREVIEW". University of Auburn. August 28, 2006. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Alexander Wright, Combine Results, WR - Auburn". nflcombineresults.com. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ "1990 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ "Wright, Solomon end their holdouts for the Cowboys". Daily News. August 26, 1990. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Bryan McCann is Player of the Week". ESPN.com. November 16, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ Smith, Timothy W. (January 30, 1991). "Browns Won't Be Built in a Season". NY Times. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Cowboys deal Wright". Times Daily. October 14, 1992. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Oakland Raiders - Raiders Drop Broncos into Playoff Pressure Cooker". Archived from the original on November 14, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Wright Might Be on Way Out". LA Times. August 19, 1994. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Transactions". NY Times. March 23, 1995. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Rams' Wright to have surgery". Lawrence Journal-World. October 13, 1995. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ^ "Rams pickup former KC offensive lineman, ex-Bear defensive back". The Southeast Missourian. September 5, 1996. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference