Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- BYU's Tre Alexander views the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Georgia Tech as personal.
- Alexander, an Atlanta native, was recruited by Georgia Tech but chose BYU instead.
- He anticipates family support at the Dec. 27 game in Orlando, Florida.
PROVO — Most college football bowl games can feel like a consolation prize, and certainly for teams in the conversation for a College Football Playoff berth like No. 12 BYU was until after the Cougars' 29-7 loss to No. 4 Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game.
But bowl games have always been television inventory, produced largely for exposure and as a reward for teams that finish at or above .500 in a given year. BYU's trip to the Pop-Tarts Bowl is something of a consolation prize, then — but one that includes a high-profile Dec. 27 time slot against No. 22 Georgia Tech (1:30 p.m. MST, ABC).
And for sophomore cornerback Tre Alexander, it's something else.
"It's personal," Alexander told KSL.com after practice last week.
Alexander has become a fan favorite in his two seasons in Provo, both for his not-so-subtle social media game, outspoken nature, and the 32 tackles, three tackles for loss, five pass breakups and an interception he accumulated en route to the Cougars' second-straight 11-win campaign.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound defensive back started 11 of 13 games in Jay Hill's defensive secondary in 2025, a group that ranked 28th nationally in total defense and tied for 10th with 16 interceptions.
But before that, he was a three-star recruit by 247Sports and all-state track and field standout out of the Atlanta suburb of Ellenwood, Georgia — located some 27 miles from Georgia Tech's campus in urban Atlanta.
Alexander didn't grow up a Georgia Tech fan, but the Yellow Jackets did recruit him after current coach Brent Key took over his alma mater in late 2023. By then, Alexander — who grew up a Florida State fan — had already committed to BYU over interest from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Houston, UAB and Georgia Southern, among others.
His parents were, and still are, supportive of the youngster's decision to play college football on the other side of the country at the school owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after current edge coach and special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga recruited him from the Georgia hotbed.
But making the move proved somewhat difficult on plenty of family members, he admits.
"My uncle was a Georgia Tech fan, and I was a Florida State fan growing up; I never really liked Georgia Tech like that," he said.
Alexander recalled one of his early memories of that ACC regional rivalry in 2015, when Lance Austin scooped up a blocked field goal and returned it 78 yards on the final play of the game to help the Yellow Jackets stun the ninth-ranked Seminoles, 22-1 in a game the Associated Press called "Kick Six, the Sequel."
"I remember going to my room crying, sick to my stomach, that Georgia Tech had won," Alexander added. "That's probably the earliest memory I've got of my hometown team. Of course, I'm going to hear about them a lot."
Alexander expects plenty of family members to make the drive south on I-75 for the Pop-Tarts Bowl, though he hopes each of them — or at least, most of them — are wearing his No. 1 BYU jersey.
He also holds nothing but respect for Key, who was previously the assistant head coach, offensive line coach and run-game coordinator at Georgia Tech before leading the Jackets to an 18-15 record and back-to-back bowl games for the first time in a decade.
Key was rewarded with a five-year contract extension that increased his pay significantly from the $2.9 million annually was receiving, according to ESPN.
All well-deserved, Alexander said.
"It's a blessing to get to play a team that is about 15 minutes from my house back home," Alexander said. "Coach Key is a great coach, a helluva guy; he's done a great job with that program. For me to be able to play some of those guys is great and makes it all the more special to me.
"It's going to be fun having a lot of family come down."
And if the CFP was out of reach, Alexander wanted one thing: to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
"After we lost (in the Big 12 championship game), the first thing I told coach Kalani was, can we please play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl?" Alexander said. "Not only the bowl game, but the location is great in Orlando, with all the parks, a great city, a lot of good food.
"This is the second-best thing that could happen to us. And it's a team in Georgia Tech that has a lot of talent on it, a lot of Georgia boys on the roster, and to match up against them is something that you dream of."
