Oklahoma won’t dodge Clemson corner Mackensie Alexander

Clemson cornerback Mackensie Alexander has spent much of his sophomore season eagerly waiting for quarterbacks to throw his way.

The All-American did not get tested a whole lot in Clemson’s first 13 games of the year, but he should see plenty of action as he matches up with Oklahoma All-American Sterling Shepard in Thursday’s Orange Bowl.

Through 12 games Shepard has 79 catches for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is far-and-away the leading receiver on Oklahoma’s roster, and Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield said he plans to look Shepard’s way often, even if Alexander is consistently lined up across from him.

“I trust Sterling Shepard to beat anybody,” Mayfield said during Orange Bowl Media Day. “It’s a new year and a new Shepard. I’m going to throw it to him no matter what. I don’t care who’s covering.”

Sooners offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley reiterated that he has no plans for his offense to avoid throwing Alexander’s way.

“We’re going to run our offense. We don’t normally get too keyed in on personnel,” Riley said. “And then we’ve played a lot of great players over the years. I know he’s a great player too, but our deal is more kind of trying to focus on us running our things and hopefully that’ll be good enough.”

Throwing Shepard’s way did not work out well for Oklahoma in last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl loss to Clemson. He caught only one pass for 13 yards and had to listen to the Tigers’ secondary talk trash throughout the night as Clemson crushed the Sooners 40-6.

Shepard was coming off of a groin injury entering last year’s game and says he is much more confident this time around.

“It wasn’t any fun. We got stomped. I wasn’t healthy. I wasn’t feeling good. But this year it’s a completely different story. I’m 100 percent,” he said. “I’m confident in what we’re doing. I’m confident in the game plan. It’s completely different. I have a completely different mindset going into this game.”

Shepard is averaging 130 yards per game in Oklahoma’s last five contests and has caught at least one touchdown in each of those games. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney acknowledged that the matchup will be a tough one for his star cornerback.

“He's got his hands full,” Swinney said. “We got a chance to study him a lot last year and really thought he was a gifted receiver last year going into that game. Shifty, strong guy, excellent ball skills, great ability to run after the catch. He's a very talented guy.”

However, Alexander did not have nearly as many thoughts about his upcoming opponent. When asked about Shepard he responded, “He’s No. 3 and he’s 5’10” and he plays for OU. There’s nothing for me to say about the guy.”

While Shepard is eager to play the game, he’s not getting caught up in the individual matchup with Alexander.

“It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before. Everybody keeps asking me the question am I excited about it. I’m excited to go against any corner,” Shepard said. “Any corner you put in front of me I’m going to be excited to go against just because I get to work my craft and I get to do what I love to do.”

Working a craft is something that Alexander takes pride in as well. While most of Clemson’s team was out participating in team functions and enjoying Miami’s sights this week, Alexander was breaking down film of Shepard and Oklahoma’s other receivers, making sure that he is at his best for Thursday’s game.

“I study like no tomorrow. I put in the time in the game because I want to be good,” Alexander said. “I’m like Floyd (Mayweather) at cornerback. I can be a little brash, a little cocky, but I put in the time in order to do that. I love the position of cornerback.”

Being brash and cocky are characteristics of several of the top cornerbacks in the game, and Alexander has had those traits since high school.

He grew up in south Florida and coveted a scholarship offer from Miami, but despite most of the top programs in the nation extending an offer to Alexander, the Hurricanes wanted to wait until they saw him in camp first.

According to Alexander, he went to camp at Miami, shut down the Hurricanes’ top receiving targets, received an offer and told the Miami coaching staff that, “‘I won’t be coming to your school. I just wanted to show you I can play for you. That’s all.” I felt disrespected and I never talked to him again.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Oklahoma won’t dodge Clemson corner Mackensie Alexander."