Alexander Wright (American football)

NFL player


Name=Alexander Wright
Caption=
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1967|7|19|mf=y
Birthplace=flagicon|USA Albany, Georgia
Position=Wide receiver
number=81, 89
College=Auburn
DraftedYear=1990
DraftedRound=2 / Pick 26
DatabaseFootball=WRIGHALE01
years=1990-1992
1992-1994
1995-1996
teams=Dallas Cowboys
Los Angeles Raiders
St. Louis Rams

Alexander Wright (born July 19, 1967 in Albany, Georgia) is a former NFL wide receiver, two-time winner of the NFL's "Fastest Man" competition and current athletic director and head football coach for San Jacinto Christian Academy in Amarillo, Texas. [ [http://www.sanjac.org/wiki/main/leadership.htm San Jacinto Christian Academy: overview ] ] His speed caused many to consider him to have great potential, but difficulties playing wide receiver led him to retire early.

Pre-NFL career

Wright attended Auburn University from 1986 to 1989, earning a Bachelor of Arts in adult education. While at Auburn, he was a wide receiver on the football team and caught 56 passes for 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns. He set and still holds an Auburn record of 23.6 yards per reception. [ [http://aunetwork.com/football/page.cfm?doc_id=641 Auburn records page] ] [ [http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082806aab.html Opening day best in SEC history] ]

NFL career

Wright was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 1990 NFL draft, the first wide receiver to be chosen and the first pick of the round. He was intended to complement Emmitt Smith, chosen in the first round. He did not perform as well as expected, however, and when later asked about his performance, he admitted "I was never a polished package." [Whitt] His chief talent was on special teams as a kick returner, in which capacity he scored both of his touchdowns with the Cowboys. On December 22, 1991, he set a Cowboys record, still standing, for longest play with a 102-yard kick return [ [http://www.geocities.com/~jrbeasley/dallas/best/cow-all.htm Cowboys Records] , Whitt. Note, however, that databaseFootball statistics do not show that Wright ever returned a kickoff in the NFL; for example, the 1992 Cowboys statistics listed on [http://www.databasefootball.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=DAL&yr=1992&lg=nfl databaseFootball] omit Wright, while [http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/stats.nsf/Annual/1992-dal JT-SW.com] and [http://www.bluestarboys.com/History/90s/1992.html Blue Star Boys] statistics include him; the cause of this discrepancy is unknown.] Wright was one of the fastest sprinters in the NFL, winning the NFL's "Fastest Man" competition in 1990 and 1991. [Whitt] In May 1991 he was recorded to have run the 40 yard dash in 4.09 seconds. [Whitt. This time may be inaccurate for several reasons; see criticism of the 40 yard dash.] However, he was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders (now the Oakland Raiders) in 1992 for a fourth-round draft pick when he still had no receptions following the first four games of the season.

His most productive season was in 1993 when he caught 27 passes for 462 yards. Wright played his final two seasons with the St. Louis Rams, then retired in 1996.

Statistics

Post-NFL

In 1999, Wright earned the Master of Arts in sports management from Lindenwood University. In 2002 he served as the interim head coach of the River City Renegades, a National Indoor Football League team. 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. He was the offensive coordinator for Southwestern Assemblies of God University. He is currently the Athletic Director and head football coach for San Jacinto Christian Academy in Amarillo, TX.

References

* Whitt, Richie. [http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2006-04-06/news/whitt.html "Fast Track: Former Cowboy's big dreams diverted to small schools."] "Dallas Observer", 6 April 2006.: A feature article outlining Wright's NFL career and life since retiring.
* Lowe, Bob. [http://www.gborocollege.edu/athletics/sports/FOOTBALL/2005/wright_oc.html "Greensboro College Names Former NFL Player Alexander Wright Offensive Coordinator."] Greensboro College, 19 July 2005.: Press release, including biographical information.
* Thomas, Landon. "The SEC team of the '80s: Auburn football 1980-1989." Woodstock, GA: Tigers Publishing, 2005. ISBN ?. (Dewey 796.33263 T4587s.) [http://waldo.library.nashville.org:90/kids/10,947,977/search/dfootball/dfootball/1,308,1179,B/frameset&FF=dfootball+auburn+university+history+1980+1989+pictorial+works&1,1,?save=b1409002] [http://www.lmn.lib.al.us:90/kids/1899,2126/search/c796.33+Tho,+18467/c796.33+tho%2C+18467/-2%2C-1%2C0%2CE/frameset&FF=c796.33+tho&4%2C%2C5]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.sagu.edu/personnel/directory/personnel.php?saguID=797 Staff page] at Southwestern Assemblies of God University