Embodying the Culture
Alex Semadeni
Alexander Teubner is living the college football dream. He came to Boise State as a walk-on, hungry and determined to make a name for himself but initially humbled by the overwhelming talent on the field. He stuck with it, improving at every practice and becoming recognized as one of the hardest-working members of the team.
He earned the respect of both his teammates and coaches and developed from a member of the scout team as a freshman to a standout defensive player. He emphatically introduced himself to Bronco Nation with a stellar performance in an upset win over No. 10 BYU in 2021, and helped lead the Broncos to a Mountain West Championship a season ago, earning Defensive MVP honors.
Teubner’s ascension at Boise State is proof that embracing the journey churns out results. Coincidentally (or not), those messages have been the defining message of what Spencer Danielson has been preaching during his tenure at Boise State, a message that has been consistent from his time as a graduate assistant coach to his first fall camp as head coach.
As Danielson prepares for his first season at the helm of the Blue and Orange, he will lean on players like Teubner, who has perfectly embodied Danielson's teachings. For Teubner, he hopes that the legacy he leaves in his final season at Boise State will help launch a new, exciting path for Boise State Football.
UNRELENTING
Graduating from Seaside High School in Seaside, Oregon, in a graduating class of just over 100 people, Teubner didn’t have a long list of schools willing to recruit him. He wasn’t listed on the majority of the recruiting services, so any of the few looks he had were due to his outrageous high school numbers (for example: he rushed for 44 touchdowns his senior season). A majority of coaches had doubts that he could successfully compete against a higher level of competition.
Boise State had him visit its spring game in 2019, but the Broncos didn’t commit to offering him a walk-on spot until late in the summer. Teubner arrived for the first day of fall camp hardly having any interaction with his fellow newcomers.
DJ Schramm, who was entering his second year at Boise State, remembers Teubner as the quiet type at his debut camp.
“As most walk-ons are, he kept to himself and was quiet at first,” Schramm said. “But you could tell by the way he carried himself, he wasn’t there to just put the jersey on. From the first day at practice, he was a man on a mission.”
Though Teubner admits he had a lot of room for growth during his first fall camp, his determination to improve stood out. He decided to focus on perfecting any rep he had, the majority of which came on special teams. As the season progressed, he began making a name for himself for causing havoc on the scout team.
“He was a nightmare for anyone that was starting on special teams,” Schramm said. “He practiced harder than anyone. He made a lot of guys angry. I know people personally that at first weren’t big fans of him because he was making them look bad on film. He earned his respect from the team the hard way. Not a lot of guys want to earn their respect by beating out guys on special teams.”
Teubner’s hard work made not only his teammates better, but himself better as well. He appeared in five games during the 2020 season, recording two solo tackles on the year. The following season, the redshirt sophomore saw the field in all 12 games, and became a fan favorite after forcing a fumble and recovering another in Boise State’s 26-17 defeat over No. 10 BYU.
Teubner continued to grind and embraced numerous lessons from Danielson, who had been promoted to defensive coordinator prior to his redshirt sophomore season. Teubner’s natural ethos was eerily similar to Danielson’s, forging a strong relationship based on mutual respect.
His trajectory continued upwards, notching five starts over the course of the 2022 season. Teubner ended the year on a high-note, where he started in the place of JL Skinner in the Frisco Bowl and notched a then career-high 12 tackles as Boise State won 35-32.
Teubner’s rise to a starter might have come to a surprise to the fan who is only able to see the results of the hard work 12 or so times a year. But to the guys who he had spent a majority of his time with, it was no surprise.
“As you get older and you start to show that you can bring it every day, be consistent on defense and do it in a bigger role, guys start to respect you,” Schramm said. “He just kept doing the same things that got him to that point and kept doing them at a higher level.”
ACCOUNTABILITY
Danielson was serving as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach when Teubner first joined the team. As Teubner climbed the Bronco hierarchy, the two spent more time together.
“Going into my third season was when our relationship really progressed,” Teubner said. “He got the defensive coordinator role. I started speaking with him more and learning from him.”
The two got along extremely well. Danielson was impressed with Teubner’s willingness to be unrelenting at every turn, while Teubner was impressed with the amount of effort Danielson would pour into each player’s development – and not just development on the football field.
“He is the same guy every day that he shows up,” Teubner said. “He cares way more about us as human beings than he does how we’re going to play on the football field. When you have someone like that who you know cares about you on a deeper level than how you perform on the field, it’s much easier to play for that guy.”
That buy-in was evidenced last season. Danielson transitioned into the role of interim head coach with two weeks remaining in the regular season, a tough task in the current transfer portal era where the need to retain a roster is paramount.
Danielson asked the guys to buy into the program for two weeks and the Broncos did just that. Given a 0.1% chance to win the Mountain West Championship according to ESPN probabilities, the Broncos rattled off a 45-10 road victory over Utah State before ending the regular season with a defiant 27-19 win over Air Force on The Blue.
The win over the Falcons propelled the Broncos to a date with UNLV in the Mountain West Championship game. Behind an elite performance on both sides of the ball, Boise State defeated UNLV 44-20 to win its fifth MW Championship. Teubner played a key role in the victory, forcing a fumble and recording 10 tackles on the way to earn the game’s defensive MVP.
In the postgame press conference, Teubner endorsed Danielson for the head coach role and praised his character.
“You’re not going to get the resume from him, you have to get it from everyone else,” he said on the podium. “This man [Danielson] is going to deflect all praise and accept all blame at all times. I think you could go through 110 guys in our locker room and you might get to tears with every single one of them about what this guy means to them. On and off the field he’s building people, he’s building young men and he’s building championships. There’s not enough I can say about this dude.”
Athletic director Jeramiah Dickey officially announced that Danielson would be the head coach the next day, addressing the team in what became a widely-shared video among the Bronco faithful.
“I hope you know how much I love you,” Dickey said in the video. “Because of that, it was important for us to go through a process. I met with a couple of you and I wanted to make sure I found the right person to lead this program. I know it was a long process. The last three weeks have been challenging. I’ve seen this team come together. I’ve seen you respond the way I’ve never seen a team respond before. It’s what a Bronco is. I’m so grateful for you guys. I can’t say enough about how much joy you bring me as your leader. I’m going to try not to get emotional. I love you guys. I know you all had expectations for this search. I know that every single one of you has either tweeted at me, spoke about it at a press conference with me in the room, with my boss in the room. Thank you. I know how much you love Spencer. And I’m glad because he is your new head coach.”
We got ?????? guy!#Compete | #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/RcGMS0ddWO
— Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) December 3, 2023
“You could see the player buy-in,” Teubner said. “The guys in the locker room had a huge amount of appreciation for Coach D. We knew that there were a lot of decisions to be made after the season. We knew that all we could handle was one game at a time. We had no idea it would amount to what it did. We all have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach D so we felt like we owed it to him and to each other to finish the season with all we had. That speaks louder than any words.”
RESPONSIBILITY
After the season died down, Teubner had to reckon with a big decision of his own. He had an extra year of eligibility if he wanted it, and he had been going back and forth for the entire 2023 season. He had discussed the situation with Schramm, his roommate of the past two years, who had to make a similar decision a year prior.
“We had a number of talks about him coming back,” Schramm said. “I would tell him that he’ll never regret coming back. It’s not just about football. It’s about being around the guys and the impact that he has a chance to leave. That’s something truly special and you don’t see it a lot. It’s inspiring.”
After some deliberation, Teubner decided he had more story to write.
“Coach D was a big reason I came back,” he said. “The culture he built was a big part of it.”
“Coach D was a big reason I came back,” he said. “The culture he built was a big part of it.”
With the decision behind him, Teubner shifted his focus to what would be his final year of playing in the Blue and Orange.
“We know it’s going to be different this season,” Teubner said. “We respect Coach D and want him to be in this position. We expect him to be harder on us and we want him to build this program how he sees it. Watching him grow in this new role is awesome. He works longer and harder than anybody else in the facility. We have a tremendous amount of love and respect for him and it’s easy for us to follow suit.”
“Everyone has maintained that energy and level of responsibility,” Teubner continued. “We have guys holding each other accountable like I’ve never seen before. We have guys motivating and pushing each other. It’s pretty awesome."
Teubner plays a big part in that accountability. A day before fall camp began, Teubner was voted one of four captains on the team, alongside Jonah Dalmas, Ahmed Hassanein and Ashton Jeanty.
“There’s an incredible burden that comes with it,” he said. “It requires a lot of you to be the captain. Without a doubt, I love it. This is a lifelong dream for me. I couldn’t have imagined my career ending out like this. I love the responsibility. This role requires a lot and I’m excited. This is my last year here no matter what and I want to leave everything out there. I want to lead my way. I want to be genuine and who I am. I want to make sure I’m doing my best to push and lead this team.”
Teubner chosen as a captain came as no surprise to Schramm, who was one of the Broncos’ captains a season ago.
“He’s the true definition of a Bronco,” Schramm said. “It’s the great thing about being at Boise State. He is one on a long list of guys who was a walk-on and is going to leave a significant legacy here. That’s something truly special and you don’t see it a lot. I literally cannot say enough good things about Teubs.”
As Teubner prepares to put the pads on for his final season, he is determined to make the end of his chapter one that helps guide Boise State into unchartered territory. And do that, he’ll follow in the footsteps of his new head coach.
“Certain people are put in positions of power for a reason,” Teubner said. “I think Coach D was put in this position to lead this great team that we have this year, and I think I was put in this position for a reason. This team has come together right when it was supposed to and we’re going to do something special.”
