COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’93 : Plugging the Gap : Florida State’s Ken Alexander Takes Marvin Jones’ Spot as Top-Ranked Seminoles Open Season Against Kansas

His name is Ken Alexander, he is the middle linebacker for Florida State and when college football returns to our living rooms today, his task will be an unenviable one. He will be replacing Marvin Jones.

Last season, Jones was an All-American, he led his No. 2-ranked, 11-1 Seminoles in tackles with 111, and he won two of the most prestigious awards that normally go to players who touch the football only by accident--the Lombardi and Butkus. Many thought he also should have won the most prestigious award that normally goes to players who touch the football on purpose--the Heisman.

Today, when preseason No. 1 Florida State lines up here in the Meadowlands against Kansas in the annual Kickoff Classic, it will be No. 36 positioned where No. 55 used to be.

And even though No. 55, the highest draft pick ever from Florida State as a No. 4 choice last April, has departed to the life of a young millionaire for the New York Jets, No. 36 still holds on to some fond memories.

“I remember in last year’s Miami game (Florida State’s only loss),” Alexander said, “Marvin made a hit on a running back named Jones. I didn’t see it. I just heard it. And when I heard it, I said, ‘Wow.’ Then I saw it on ESPN on the game films the next day, and when I saw it, I said, ‘Wow.’ ”

Alexander, 6 feet 4 and 247 pounds from Austin, Tex., played the other inside linebacker with Jones for a couple of seasons, finishing third on the team last year with 70 tackles and sharing a number of memorable experiences with his higher-profile teammate.

“I remember the Michigan game in 1991, at Michigan,” Alexander said. “It was the game where they were No. 3 and we were No. 1 and there were 106,000 people there. Huge, national TV, the whole thing.

“We were ahead by a couple of touchdowns, and it was near the end of the half. They were on the three-yard line, and it was one of those times where you could kind of feel that this was important, that if they scored here, things could turn around.

“And I remember looking over at Marvin, and him looking back at me, and it was like we each knew that Michigan wasn’t going to score. We just weren’t going to let it happen.

“And on the first play, we hit their fullback and we hit him so hard, it was like everything went out of him. I remember feeling like I had just run through him like he was air. And then I looked down at him, and I thought we had broken his neck. I know it is kind of barbaric and sick, but there was just that moment of gloat, seeing him down like that. He eventually got up all right, but they didn’t score, and I think the tone had been set for the rest of the game.”

Alexander said that, while Jones led by example, he expects to do the same, with an added dimension.

“I feel like I am the quarterback on defense,” he said, “and part of that is leading verbally, too. At that, I’ll be better than Marvin, because I’m much more verbal.”

Indeed, he is. Alexander, a cum laude graduate with a 3.7 grade-point average in communications last spring--earning his degree in three years and continuing on in pursuit of his master’s in the same field--joined with teammate Kevin Knox to win this year’s University of Florida spring speech and debate tournament in Gainesville. The topic? Whether the United Nations’ declaration of human rights is more important than sovereignty.

He also might attempt law school when he completes his master’s in communications, and his political savvy showed nicely when asked about individual goals.

“Marvin is gone, and that is a large loss. We all know that,” Alexander said. “But I want to be part of the best linebacking corps in the country, and with Derrick (Brooks) and Alonzo (Horner), we’ll be No. 1 in the nation as a unit by the end of the year.”

Today’s game (9 a.m. PDT, Channel 7) should be a reasonable starting test for Alexander and his linebacking mates. Kansas, a reviving football program under Coach Glen Mason--with last season’s 8-4 record that featured an Aloha Bowl victory over Brigham Young--has one of the largest and most physical offensive lines in the country.

“After watching films of them, they should be rated in the preseason polls,” Alexander said. “Their guys up front are huge, just huge. This should be one of those hard-nosed, smash-mouth games up there. I expect to be real tired and real sore Saturday night. But then, that’s why I’ve been doing two-a-days for weeks in 90 degrees and 99% humidity.

“I’m ready. We’re ready.”