Dad Strength Powers Toledo DT Darius Alexander | Steelers 2025 NFL Draft Profile
MOBILE, Ala. — Some muscles are built for speed and finesse, for the quick-twitch and the explosive action of a lithe athlete. Other muscles are built for power, and not just in short bursts, but in the kind of lasting, staying power that takes a long time to develop. Some call it dad strength. Others call it old man strength. For Toledo defensive tackle and Pittsburgh Steelers 2025 NFL Draft target Darius Alexander, either name applies.
Alexander is one of the older prospects in the draft class. One of the last remnants of the extra year given to college players during the COVID-19-impacted 2020 season, Alexander will be 25 this season. He committed to Toledo way back in 2019, spending all six of his collegiate seasons with the Rockets.
Early in that journey, his son, Messiah joined him. Alexander grew up without a father in his life, and he embraced the opportunity to bring his son along in his college football journey.
“He wants to play football too and tells me that all the time,” Alexander said in September. The last two summers I’ve had him living with me. He’s been a joy. He likes coming to workouts. He comes to all the games. He’s loving it. He can’t wait till it’s his turn to play.”
Messiah is now five years old, and Alexander has used being a football player and father at the same as fuel for his process, as well as hoping to be the best dad he can for his son.
“I love everything about it,” Alexander said. “I didn’t have a dad growing up, so my goal is to give him everything I didn’t have, and show him the things I wasn’t shown. I cherish that opportunity every day. My goal is to be a better dad every day. No one is ever perfect as a father but I feel like that’s something you can grow with and get better at every day. It’s been hard at times, taking time away from my son to be here. Having him around these last two years has really helped me because I enjoy the ups and downs with him.”
The old man of the draft class has plenty of dad strength to go around, as Alexander showed at the 2025 Senior Bowl. He weighed in at 304 pounds, an unexceptional size for an interior defensive line prospect, but showed significant power in his movements.
Already noted as an above-average run defender, Alexander showed off his power rush moves in Mobile, and thinks he can get better against the run, as well.
“Right now, I’m just trying to improve on my run game, just being able to withstand double teams and things like that and make plays,” he said.
In the age of the transfer portal, one-helmet college players are rare, especially ones from Group of Five schools like Toledo. But the Rockets have had four players drafted in the last three draft classes — all on defense — including 2024 first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell of the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
Instead of moving Messiah, Alexander wants to be the latest to prove that
HOW DOES DARIUS ALEXANDER FIT WITH STEELERS?
The Pittsburgh Steelers are entering the 2025 offseason looking to the future at defensive line. After spending four draft picks in the first four rounds of the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts on offensive line, Omar Khan and Andy Weidl are turning their attention to the defensive trenches this year, and that attention coincides with an outstanding draft class of defensive tackles.
The Steelers have plenty of space to potentially even add more than one defensive linemen to the mix, with backup nose tackle Montravius Adams a pending free agent, both Larry Ogunjobi and Dean Lowry potential salary cap casualties, and veteran starter Cam Heyward nearing the end of his road at 36 years old next season.
They have one piece to the future puzzle in 2023 second-round pick Keeanu Benton, but the Steelers need two or three more young players to build around him on the future of their defensive line.
Alexander fits the mold as a potential Heyward replacement. Most at home as a three-technique, he brings unique athleticism to the position, and also emulates one of Heyward’s top traits: his ability to get his hands up in passing lanes.
Heyward led all NFL defensive linemen with 11 passes defended in 2024, which was more than all but 24 defensive backs. No other interior defensive lineman had more than six, and one of the two players with six was Heyward’s teammate, Benton. Clearly, getting hands into passing lanes is a big focus for the Steelers defensive line.
Alexander has a similar aptitude in that area. He had 10 pass breakups over his final three seasons at Akron, and had four in 2024. In 327 pass-rush snaps, Alexander had four sacks, eight quarterback hits and 25 pressures, according to PFF charting. Add in his four PBUs, and that’s a 12.5% disruption rate.
“I really want to be a playmaker, always being cognizant of what the QB is doing and where the ball is out on the field,” Alexander said at the Senior Bowl. “So for sure, I always love get my hands up when I know I can’t get there and get home. So I’m always trying to stay active and find a way to make a play.
Alexander also dropped into coverage 10 times, and he came up huge in one of them, intercepting Pitt quarterback Julian Dugger in the GameAbove Sports Bowl against Pitt in December. He returned it 59 yards for a touchdown.
“I’d say that was my favorite player in my career so far, got my only touchdown in college, my first interception,” Alexander said. “So I definitely say that’s one of my highlights in my career, for sure.”
DARIUS ALEXANDER COLLEGE STATS
Darius Alexander did not become a starter until his fourth season at Toledo. He redshirted as a true freshman and played a rotational role in 2020, 2021 and 2022 behind Penn State transfer Judge Culpepper and current L.A. Rams defensive tackle Desjuan Johnson.
Alexander was named third-team All-MAC in 2023 and first-team All-MAC in 2024.
| Year – Team | GP | GS | Tkl | TFL | Sack | PD | INT | FF | FR | TD |
| 2024 – Toledo | 12 | 12 | 40 | 7.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 – Toledo | 14 | 11 | 36 | 5.5 | 4.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 – Toledo | 12 | 1 | 21 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 – Toledo | 13 | 3 | 21 | 1.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 – Toledo | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 – Toledo |
TALE OF THE TAPE
Measured at the Senior Bowl: 6-foot-3 5/8, 304 pounds, 34-inch arms, 82 1/4-inch wingspan, 10 1/4-inch hands.
WHERE WILL BE DARIUS ALEXANDER BE DRAFTED?
Alexander’s stock has steadily risen after a strong performance at the Senior Bowl. He had been considered a Day Three players, but is now routinely being mocked late in the first round and has risen all the way to No. 53 overall on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board.
If the Steelers want to land him, they’ll probably have to use pick No. 52 in the second round.
FILM ROOM
ODDS AND ENDS
The last Steelers played drafted out of Toledo was wide receiver Diontae Johnson, taken at No. 66 overall in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. … Alexander attended Wayne High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the home of NFL players Jason Baker, Roosevelt Barnes and Craig Young, who spent time on the Steelers practice squad in 2024. … Alexander was a two-star prospect coming out of Wayne, and his only other offer was to Bowling Green. … Ranked No. 53 on Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks” list for The Athletic coming into the 2024 season, and was credited with a 400-pound bench and a 20 mph GPS sprint speed.