Towson-Morgan State football game a reunion for former Ravens WRs Derrick Alexander, Justin Harper and Jacoby Jones

Derrick Alexander and Justin Harper did not cross paths when they played for the Ravens and in the NFL. But they have known of each other from afar and are looking forward to the chance to meet when Harper and Towson football visits Alexander and Morgan State on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Hughes Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

“It does feel like a reunion because as Ravens, we’re all a real family,” said Harper, the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Tigers who included Jacoby Jones, the tight ends coach for the Bears, in the mix. “I still have a relationship with coach [John] Harbaugh and those guys. Those guys are awesome over there. They make the atmosphere a real family. I kind of know Jacoby through some people, and I missed Jacoby by a year. But the Ravens family runs deep. So I am definitely looking forward to linking up with those guys.”

Added Alexander, the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach: “Anytime you’ve got a former Raven around you, you know that you’ve been in the same place, that you’ve been through the same things. As coach Harbaugh always says, ‘Once a Raven, always a Raven.’ So there’s always that brotherhood of being in the same place and doing the same things.”

Alexander, Harper and Jones join Deion Sanders (head coach at Jackson State) and Edwin Mulitalo (head coach at Division III Southern Virginia) as former Ravens players who have made the transition to coaching in the NCAA. Harbaugh, the Ravens’ coach since 2008, said he is especially proud of Harper and Jones.

“It’s awesome to see guys that you coached go coach,” he said. “It’s probably like my dad [Jack] feels when he sees his two sons [John and Jim, Michigan coach] go coach. I feel the same way about those guys, and I’ll be rooting for them and pulling for them, big time — all those guys. Plus, I’ll be pulling for Michigan, big time, and some other programs that we’ve got friends at.”

Coaching was not Alexander’s initial career choice after his final season in the NFL in 2002 with the Minnesota Vikings. But after opening several franchises offering on-site computer support in Kansas City, working as an information technology systems analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank there and getting hired as a systems engineer for a hospital software company, Alexander could not block out football’s calling.

“It was weighing on me,” said Alexander, who ranks second in Ravens history in yards per catch (16.6) and is tied for fourth in 100-yard games (six) despite spending just two seasons (1996-97) in Baltimore. “I was sitting behind a desk every day, and I would go to games every now and then, and I would be like, ‘Man, somehow I need to get back onto that field.’”

After stops in the NFL Players Association’s coaching internship program, Division III’s Wilmington College and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Avila University, Alexander reconnected with former Michigan teammate Tyrone Wheatley, who kept his promise to add Alexander to Wheatley’s staff when he was hired by the Bears in February 2019.

Wheatley, who brought on Jones in May, said both Alexander and Jones have considerable sway with their players.

“They’re giving these guys tricks of the trade,” he said. “It’s almost like insider investing. You would love to have that guy that works on Wall Street to tell you what’s going to pop next. Well, I have that with these guys, and the receivers and tight ends have grown expeditiously in that regard. … They can walk the walk and help these young men.”

Alexander said he has tried to model himself after former Ravens wide receivers coach Richard Mann — to the point that he finds himself quoting his former coach.

“Coach was always like, ‘I need my hint! Where’s my hint?’” Alexander recalled. “It’s really just a fake one way and I’m going the other way, and that’s one thing that always stuck out to me when I was being coached. He was always reminding me of that. So I do find myself saying that a lot.”

Like Alexander, Harper said he frequently repeats what he was told during his three-year career after the Ravens selected him out of Virginia Tech in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL draft. Because of his time as a member of the practice squad, Harper has a particular affinity for the receivers who serve on the scout team to prep the starting defense for an opponent’s receiving threats.

“I tell those scout team guys how important it is to give a look,” said Harper. “... Being a practice squad guy and being on the active roster sometimes, servant leadership is real over there, and it’s all about being able to serve one another and love on each other so that we’re able to help each other win.”

Tigers coach Rob Ambrose admitted that he was poised to hire someone else as the wide receivers coach in 2018 until he and brother and former offensive coordinator Jared Ambrose interviewed Harper, who had mentored wide receivers at Division II’s Lenoir-Rhyne and Virginia State.

“It’s not because of what he’s done or where he’s played. It’s because of who he is and what he wants to get out of these kids,” Ambrose said. “He’s going to make them good ball players. He loves football just like we all do, but he is incredibly in-depth. He has a deep-seated need to help these kids be better men because there were good coaches along the way that did that for him, and he wants to do that for these young men, and that’s why he’s here. He fits our family mentality to a T.”

With a rooting interest on both sides of Saturday’s game, Harbaugh toed the line as best he could.

“People talk about, ‘Who are you a fan of?’” he said. “I’m a fan of wherever my friends are coaching or playing. That’s who I’m a fan of.”

Despite missing Alexander by 11 years and Jones by one, Harper said he is eager to talk to both of them before the game.

“We know some of the same names,” he said. “I’m going to be able to watch their receivers do some things and say to my guys, ‘Hey, yo, those guys were taught.’ And I think they’re going to be able to see my guys and say the exact same thing. So I think it’s going to be unbelievable. I think it’s going to be a dope atmosphere and a great experience to see those guys.”

Alexander said he and Jones will look for Harper with a similar fervor.

“It’ll be good to go over and introduce myself and talk,” he said. “It’s always good to talk to former players no matter what team they played for. But especially since we’re all here in town, I’d love to go over and talk to him.”

Baltimore Sun reporter Jonas Shaffer contributed to this article.

Season opener

TOWSON@MORGAN STATE

Saturday, 4 p.m.

Audio: 88.9 FM, towsontigers.com