SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 21, 2026

Sedrick Alexander

Vanderbilt Commodores

Press Conference

Q. Team goals are your most important, obviously. What individual goals do you want to try to attain to help that team get better?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I just want to be the best teammate. I want to be the best person in the locker room, the best person in the room, the best person -- when people come to me, I want them to know they can come talk to me whenever they feel like it.

Q. You've been with Vanderbilt for three years. So you know the team pretty well. What do you think separates your running back room from all the other ones in the conference?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I think there's a brotherhood there. I think that we spend the most time with each other. I think that we all want each other to be great and do great things on the field. And we all want everybody to just go out there, play their football, play their game and do what's best for the team.

Q. Just being at the Vanderbilt-Auburn game last year, that was an excellent game overtime. Also, seemed like it was a little chippy before the game. With them being now a permanent game on your schedule, do you see Auburn-Vanderbilt becoming a legitimate rivalry in the SEC?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I think that it could become a rival. I think that Auburn's a great team. And I think that we just want to go out there and go 1-0 each and every week, and we don't care who's in front of us.

Q. What's been the coaching message, after all the recent success, what's the message been this offseason?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: The message is to go 1-0 in everything that we do, whether that's on the field or off the field. Whatever you do, do everything the right way. Have integrity, everybody is watching, make sure you're doing the right thing, and be at the right place at the right time.

Q. What game are you most looking forward to this season?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I'm most looking forward to Austin Peay, our first game of the season. You want to try to go 1-0 each and every game. So that's the first game, and I'm looking forward to that game.

Q. You've talked a lot about how much your family to you. Can you talk a little bit more about what it means to have their support and have them along with your journey?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Yeah, my family means so much to me. They put me in football when I was a young age and I ran with it. My dad's always been on me ever since I was young. My mom always was on me when it came to academics and when it came to football.

And then I had a sweet, loving grandma who was always on me and wanted me to do great things, and she put me in the best position to do the things that I do now, which is why I'm here.

Q. You're standing in the tunnel on Saturday on Saturday getting ready to go out at FirstBank Stadium. You see all those Commodore fans going nuts. Do you still get goosebumps?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Definitely. I think that my first year at Vanderbilt, we didn't have that many fans, and then it progressed each and every year. And like when you see it, like last year, we're coming out of the tunnel and you just see fans everywhere. We got a new stadium. And everybody's just loud.

And we get to see a lot. You can see the progression over the years. It's just something special and something I enjoyed every moment of.

Q. What are you hoping to pour into the younger guys and future Vanderbilt football players?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I'm hoping to pour in leadership, show them that you don't have to be older to be a leader. Just show them by actions and also by vocal just letting them know that you can be in this position one day, and just keep pressing and pressing and putting your foot forward.

Q. You've heard the coaches' message now through your career. Is it different now that it was then since you guys have had to start the building process that you've achieved?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I think that the message has always been the same. I think we've got some people out, got some people in, new transfers, new staff. I think that we've been progressing each and every year. So that was the biggest difference.

Q. Unless you talk to somebody who has played football, it's hard to explain culture. What's the culture like at Vanderbilt right now?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: The culture is the best culture I've been a part of. Just a brotherhood. Just everybody loving each and every one. And you can see that everybody has all the same vision. We all want one thing, and that's to win the national championship. And we're going to do whatever we can to do that.

Q. Candice Story Lee is from our area in north Alabama. She's your athletic director. What has made her so special in that role and changing how we see Vanderbilt sports?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Man, she's a great leader. She's someone that you can really just look up. I think she's someone that every time I see her, I want to greet her. Every time I see her, I know that she's putting her best foot forward for our university.

And she's doing whatever she can for Vanderbilt football, basketball, everything, all the sports. She wants all the sports to progress each and every year.

Q. For so many years, Vanderbilt was considered one of the lower-ranked teams in the SEC, considered a doormat, if you will. But you all have taken great strides in the past few years. What is it that you all have to continue to do to make this the new consistent track pattern that you all want to go forward as a program and not fall back into those old ways?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I think one of the biggest things that our team has done is got around each other and had conversations, deep conversations, and we all want to be on one accord.

And I think that's the biggest difference from when I first got here. It was a lot of people that was scattered. Now, it's just everybody is in that one accord, and we're all on the same mission, and that's winning.

Q. How important is it to keep last year's last year and this year's a new entity?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Very important. I think that every year is different. Every year you've got new players. Every year you've got new staff. Obviously, you can have that same mission, which our mission is winning. But everything's going to be different because it's a new year. It's just how do you adjust and how do you keep the mission the same.

Q. You've been traveling in the South for three years playing football. What's been the loudest or hardest stadium you've had to play in?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I would say my freshman year we played at The Swamp, loud stadium. That's where I got my first start. Very different for me.

Q. First time in Vanderbilt history, double digit wins. You don't want to be milli vanilli, you want to be consistent, correct?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Yes, you want to be consistent when it comes to the double digit wins. We don't want to not keep doing those double digit wins. We want to be able to beat teams and beat them each and every quarter.

Q. Being from the Austin area, what was it like taking a trip back to Austin last year?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: It was something special for me. I was able to bring my entire family out. I was able to see people I haven't even seen in a long time. And it was just something special for me.

I actually never got a chance to play in DKR ever growing up. And that was really my first time playing there. So it was something special.

Q. Are there any cool venues in high school that you did get to play in at your time in Texas?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: I played at Frisco Stadium and I also played at Arlington. So I played in Arlington for the state championship. So that was probably the best places I've played in.

Q. The dynamics of the in-state rivalry at Tennessee, has that changed in the last couple of years?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: It hasn't changed. Obviously this past year, we came out on top. And I think that the message that Coach Lea gave to us at halftime is what really made us put our foot forward. It's, like, we gotta go get this. And we want to keep that (indiscernible) to where we're going each and every year.

Q. Who is one football player or athlete you've kind of looked up to or tried to model your game after?

SEDRICK ALEXANDER: Well, I always grew up and wanted to be like Adrian Peterson. That's the reason why I wear 28. I've been watching Adrian Peterson ever since he was at Oklahoma. I was a young kid. But ever since he was at Oklahoma and he went to the Minnesota Vikings. I've been watching him. So I always wanted to be like AP when I was growing up.