Inside SEC Media Days With Sedrick Alexander, Who Found The Spotlight For The First Time There
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TAMPA, FL—Before Sedrick Alexander turns the corner and appears to the group of media members waiting on him, therein lies a clue that he’s coming.
The patterned green carpet at Tampa’s JW Marriott shields the eyes, but for a second the metal door handles are more effectively used as reflection points for Alexander’s chain. The gold necklace wraps around Alexander’s neck and at the forefront of it sits a teddy bear made of diamonds with Seddy spelled out under it. The S in Seddy is made up of the logo of his personal brand, the one that appears on his NIL apparel.
When he describes his outfit, though, he keeps coming back to the chain–and the top of it, in particular.
The bear is an unorthodox fashion choice to the onlookers, but to Alexander it’s a symbol. Alexander feels that nothing that he’s wearing better embodies him than him than that inch-and-a half tall bear. Not the black bowtie. Not the white undershirt. Not the gold earrings.
Alexander put his outfit criteria into ChatGPT ahead of Media Days and chose between the three options that it spit back out at him. When it prompted him to potentially wear a short-sleeve suit shirt and pants that let his ankles show, he immediately landed on it. He even showed Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill. Yet, the teddy bear won out.
Why?
“It shows that I want people to know that they can always come to me,” Alexander said. “People need a teddy bear sometimes. Sometimes they need to be able to hug it. My name’s Seddy, and Seddy and teddy go together. So that’s why I picked the teddy bear.”
Alexander considers himself to have a soft side–but please do not call him Teddy Seddy, he says–that hasn’t often been shown as he’s put himself in a position to be a representative for this Vanderbilt program. He hasn’t gotten here because of that. It’s instead happened through his ability to fall forward, his willingness to eat a hit from a defensive lineman to protect his quarterback and his patented hurdle.
Those characteristics have resulted in Alexander being a starter on Vanderbilt’s two best football teams in recent memory, rushing for a team-high 567 yards in 2025 and him finding the end zone 11 times–which put him 38th in the country. He also caught 19 balls and went for over 200 yards through the air.
Alexander doesn’t only want to be known for that, though.
Instead, Alexander wants to put a spotlight on his family–which he went out of his way to bring up on Tuesday–and his desire to be a role model. Can’t forget about that patented smile that Alexander often uses to show off his shiny white teeth. That smile goes everywhere with Alexander, and it’s rare not to see it. His mom says it’s been a fixture of his face since he was a kid.
That’s what Vanderbilt’s players know him for, too. For his upbeat nature. For his ability to lighten the room in non-media trained settings. For his sense of humor.
“He’s hilarious,” Sherrill said. “If you talk to him, he’s one of the most genuine people I know.”
“He’s a fun guy,” Vanderbilt defensive lineman Issa Ouattara said.
On Tuesday, Alexander finally got to show that nationally. And with that, he finally put himself in a spotlight that he’s so often been out of as other running backs and other Vanderbilt players have taken it. Tuesday, it was finally Alexander’s. Tuesday, Alexander finally got his chance to shine. In some ways, he was guarded in what he was willing to divulge–particularly the details of a new diet that’s cleared his mind and his thoughts on what he may do with a fifth year of eligibiltiy–but he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by.
“I love this. I love that I get the chance to represent my university,” Alexander said. “I think that the more TV time, the more people you get to have put an eye on you, the more they’ll be like ‘oh, who’s that guy? Who is he? He speaks very well. He knows exactly what he wants. He knows exactly what his program wants. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do this year.’”
Alexander won’t say that he believes he’s underrated, but a number of program sources hold that belief–as does an SEC Network analyst who brought that theory up to Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea on the set. A number of program sources believe that Alexander hasn’t been recognized enough for taking a leap from an average SEC back to a truly good one, which is evidenced by his yards per carry increasing from 3.6 yards per carry to 5.4.
What Alexander will say, though, is that he believes he’s still an underdog and is unafraid to embrace that label. He also believes that he’s got it in him to be an All-SEC player and a key piece on a national championship team in 2026.
Perhaps nobody knew that before Tuesday afternoon, but they do now.
That’s why Vanderbilt brought Alexander here, to put him in front of the spotlight for one of the first times in his career. Alexander is one of Vanderbilt’s faces of the program, and Tuesday cemented that. If you ask him, this won’t be the last time America hears about him.
“My goal is to be one of the top running backs in the country,” Alexander said, “And definitely be a Heisman candidate.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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