Alex Highsmith (born August 7, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

Early life and high school

Highsmith grew up in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

and attended

Eugene Ashley High School Eugene Ashley High School is a high school just outside Wilmington, North Carolina, located in the New Hanover County School District. The facility was opened in the New Hanover County Veteran's Park in 2001. The school was named after Medal of H ...

, where he played baseball, basketball and football. He played middle linebacker and fullback and was named second-team All-Area and first-team All-Mideastern Conference as a senior. He was also named All-Area in baseball. Highsmith was lightly recruited by college programs and only received interest from Davidson and Furman before being offered a spot on UNC Charlotte's team as a walk on.

College career

Highsmith joined the Charlotte 49ers as a walk-on and redshirted his true freshman season. As a redshirt freshman, he played in all 12 of the 49ers games and finished the season with 17 tackles and a sack. Highsmith was a key member of Charlotte's defensive line rotation during his redshirt sophomore season and finished the year with 33 tackles with 5.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and one fumble recovery. He was named a starter at defensive end as a redshirt junior and was named first-team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

after setting a school record with 17.5 tackles for loss along with 60 total tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles. He was again named first-team All-Conference USA and was also a third-team All-America selection by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

as a senior after setting new school records with 14 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss.

College statistics

''Source:''

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

Highsmith was drafted by the

in the third round, 102nd overall, of the 2020 NFL Draft. In Week 8 against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

, Highsmith recorded his first career interception off a pass thrown by Lamar Jackson during the 28–24 win. In Week 9 against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

, Highsmith recorded his first career sack on

Garrett Gilbert Garrett Antone Gilbert (born July 1, 1991) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. The son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert, he played college football at Texas and SMU. Joining the NFL in 2014, Gilbert was primarily ...

during the 24–19 win. In Week 13 against the Washington Football Team, Highsmith made his starting debut. In it, he recorded five tackles in the Steelers first loss of the season. Highsmith would finish the remaining four games as the Steelers' starter, recording 23 more tackles as well as 1 sack that he recorded during their season finale against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Highsmith is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Highsmith is married to Alyssa Ungrady.

References

External links

Charlotte 49ers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Highsmith, Alex 1997 births Living people Players of American football from North Carolina Sportspeople from Wilmington, North Carolina American football defensive ends American football linebackers Charlotte 49ers football players Pittsburgh Steelers players