Relentlessly making an impact
The full extent of Alex Peters’ impact on a game goes far beyond the box score.
Take a look at the stat sheet, and he will blend in with everyone else. Not a ton of points, rebounds, assists or blocked shots.
But you have to look further than that.
“I’m the tough guy, the scrappy guy, the guy that’s going to dive on the floor,” Peters said.
His “relentless work ethic” is what makes the Mountain Brook native a key part of Samford University’s basketball team.
“There’s no ego with Alex,” said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. “He’ll do whatever it takes, whatever I ask him to do to help the team win. When he first came here, his work ethic and how hard he plays rubbed off on our team.”
Peters tells the story of one of his first practices at Samford, where he baffled people with how hard he competed every second.
“When I first showed up, I was diving on the floor, and people were like, ‘Man, what are you doing? You’re going to hurt somebody.’ I said, ‘I’m getting the ball,’” he said.
After all, that’s the way he was taught to play at Mountain Brook High School.
“When I first came here, everyone was sort of shocked, because I played that style that Bucky (McMillan) ingrained in our heads,” Peters said.
Peters is willing to do the dirty work, but in the meantime, he’s also been improving his all-around game.
“What I love about AP is he’s not satisfied with just that role,” Padgett said. “He’s worked his tail off to improve, and now he’s to the point where he’s got a lot of confidence in his hook shot. He’s worked to become a better free throw shooter. He’s become a better passer out of the post. He hasn’t just settled with being the guy who dives on loose balls and takes charges. He’s worked to improve his game every year that he’s been here.”
LITTLE BY LITTLE
Unlike many college athletes, Peters’ high school basketball journey was far from an easy road. In junior high, Peters did not even make the seventh- or eighth-grade teams. But for some reason, he tried out again in ninth grade.
“Bucky gave me a chance,” Peters said.
“We had short numbers, and when we kept him, it was more of a deal for the future,” McMillan recalled. “He hadn’t figured out the speed of the game, and he was just wiry and hadn’t developed his skills.”
It would take a while, but Peters took advantage of his opportunity. He worked his way up from the freshman team to the junior varsity team before landing on the varsity squad as a junior. That season, Mountain Brook won its first basketball state championship in school history, but Peters did not see the floor much.
His senior year was a different story, and Peters began to take full advantage of his 6-foot-8 frame.
“All the sudden, he started realizing he was the biggest guy on the floor,” McMillan said. “Game plans started centering around him. By the end of games, opposing teams didn’t want to see him any more.”
Peters averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game on that team, which won the second consecutive state title with a 34-3 record.
He initially walked on at Samford, but just a month into his start there, he earned a scholarship amid a coaching change.
“Work ethic plays a huge role not only in basketball but in life,” Peters said. “I think it sets you apart. That’s one thing that I really had going for me, and I still have to this day that I think help put me above others.”
CONTINUING IMPACT
McMillan said he tells more stories about Peters to his current teams than he does any other player.
“The biggest thing with him was that he was responsible for his success because he was tough enough to take coaching and handle adversity. We coached him so hard all the time,” McMillan said.
Peters remembers the preseason camps where his high school team was pushed to the point of exhaustion, but that he absorbed the message from McMillan and applied it.
“It’s mainly just putting in the work and putting in the man-hours behind the scenes, and (McMillan) just demands that kind of respect that allowed us to be great,” Peters said.
“He’s mentally and physically tough. He was able to take it every day,” McMillan said.
Peters’ toughness, scrappiness and willingness to do the dirty work is still present in the Spartans’ program today, according to McMillan. Peters mentored a young Jack Kline, who is now playing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In turn, Kline rubbed off on current Mountain Brook players Trendon Watford and Ben McCool.
A team can have superstars, but Peters is a staunch believer in the “little things” that make a team successful.
“Most successful teams have an entire team of people willing to do the dirty work,” he said. “If you have a team full of superstars and nobody wants to do the small things that are going to win games, you’re never going to be successful. That’s just the way it is.”