March 28, 2024

Tamerius to continue football career at Simpson

Two major knee injuries that required reconstructive surgery couldn’t keep Alex Tamerius from playing the game he loves.

And now, he’ll continue playing that game for another four years.

The Creston/O-M senior who twice tore his ACL and went through months of grueling rehabilitation, signed with Simpson College on Monday to continue his football career with the Storm in the fall.

“We’ve had some good linebackers come through this program, and I consider him one of the best,” Panther head coach Brian Morrison said. “His high school career was cut short midway through a couple of times, but he persevered and came back and had a tremendous senior year. He was deserving of a medical redshirt, if there was one in high school. So now he gets an opportunity to continue his career four more years at Simpson.”

Tamerius ranked fourth for the Panthers in tackles as a sophomore in 2011, but tore his meniscus, his medial collateral ligament (MCL) and his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the spring soccer season.

The typical recovery period for such an injury is six months, but Tamerius was back on the football field just four months after surgery.

But just five plays into his first game back on the football field, he tore his ACL again.

Tamerius returned to the football field for his senior season, ranking second for the Panthers with 60.5 total tackles, including 20 solo tackles and 81 tackle assists.

“They always said that I’d have complications, and maybe to take it easy after high school,” Tamerius said. “But after working hard through it, it kind of became a reality that I could continue doing what I love to do. It feels pretty good to keep doing that.”

Storm signee

With Tamerius signing on with Simpson College, that marks nine Creston/O-M players over the past five years that have elected to continue their football careers at the next level.

Tamerius chose Simpson College over Central College and St. Ambrose.

“I tried really hard to find a good fit for me, and I think that this D-III level is perfect for me, because I want that team atmosphere and that same feel like it was here at Creston,” he said.

“Their head coach is also the defensive coordinator, so it really felt a lot like Morrison. Their practice schedule is a lot like ours. The players there acted a lot like the players here at Creston. I felt like I just kind of fit right in, even the first time I went onto campus.”

Tamerius projects as an inside linebacker for the Storm, where he will be teammates once again with former Panther teammate Levi Eblen, now an outside linebacker at Simpson.

“Just speaking to their coaches, the way he plays football, they love the fact he’s downhill,” Morrison said about Tamerius. “He’s aggressive. His nose is always around the football. He makes a lot of plays. So he’s going to fit in well with what they do defensively.”

Tamerius plans to study athletic training at Simpson, picking up an interest in the field after going through months of working with athletic trainers and physical therapists himself while rehabbing from his injuries.

“There’s a really good professor. He’s a young guy and he seems like he’s going to help me out a lot with athletic training major and transitioning into being a physical therapist,” Tamerius said.