Current leads the way for Muskego
Prior to the 2020 prep football season, the Journal Sentinel will reveal the Supreme 17, a look at the top players in the area. Each day before the first day of practice Sept. 6, one player will be revealed with a feature story. This is our tenth installment.
Very few high school athletes have felt the adrenaline that comes from racing down the home straightaway and chasing a gold medal in front of packed bleachers at the state track and field meet in La Crosse.
Even fewer have experienced the feeling of bursting into the clear or heard the rush of the Camp Randall crowd as they raced toward the end zone for a long touchdown run in a state championship football game.
Yet, Alex Current knows exactly what it's like to do both.
“Football in a state championship,” he said, “definitely is the bigger rush.”
Entering his senior season at Muskego, Current's big-stage experience is largely unmatched.
He has been a starting tailback for all of the Warriors' 28 consecutive wins, including both of their Division 1 state championship games. In that time, he has rushed for 3,082 yards on an average of 13.4 yards per carry and scored 53 touchdowns.
Current also brought the baton across the line to cap Muskego's 800meter relay win at the state track meet as a sophomore and he was a part of the second-place 400 relay that same year.
He is the closest thing to a seasoned vet that you will find in prep sports.
“There's so much experience there,” Muskego head coach Ken Krause said.
“That's something you can't just teach.”
A coach on the field
It's hard to replicate Current's big-stage experience. It's also just as difficult to find someone who is still a player and has his knowledge of Muskego's Wing-T offense. Put those together and you have what amounts to another coach, except this one can also take the ball and run a 4.55second 40-yard dash.
“What's great is he's emerged as a leader of our offense,” Krause said. “It's what you hope for as a coach. He's had 28 starts. Everything a team could try to do against us, he remembers it. He remembers things that I don't remember. He's become a coach on the field.”
The Warriors dominant rushing attack is just that for a reason. It runs on a system full of different blocks, deceptions, motions, fakes, and it's predicated on repetition drilling to make everything look the same Friday night. While the breakaway runs from backs like Current are what everyone sees, it can be a difficult system to grasp given its complexities.
“Our fullback traditionally has the least to worry about,” Krause said. “Our tailbacks have more to worry about in the blocking. It can be tough. You need intelligence at the position and that's one of Alex's top strengths. He's the coach out there, he knows the system in and out. Running-wise, I wouldn't say it's easy because you've got to read all the different moving parts, but the blocking is sometimes more complicated.”
During summer contact days in July, as the Warriors were drilling plays,
Krause mentioned to the offense that ball-carriers could end their runs five yards before they usually pull up as a way to limit fatigue. Current almost immediately spoke up and countered his coach, saying they would finish out their runs to the distance they usually went.
“The vocal part is something I'd say I've taken up more recently,” Current said. “Being a senior, I've been around a while.”
It comes as no surprise, then, that Current wants to major in education in college, where he plans to play football, to become a math teacher and a football coach.
“I could literally walk out of practice,” said Krause, “and he could run it. I would trust him to lead a practice.”
Becoming a complete back
Muskego runs the same offense it does at the varsity level at every other age down through the first grade. Current, however, was an outside linebacker and didn't get moved to running back until midway through his freshman year, which makes his quick mastery of the offense all the more noteworthy.
He impressed the coaching staff through his performance on the freshman team, his work ethic in the weight room that winter despite also playing basketball and his impressive showing as a freshman in track. During football contact days the following off-season, he earned the trust of the varsity staff and became a rare sophomore starter for the opening game.
When all-state tailback RJ Bosshart went down in that first game with a collarbone injury, Current was thrust into a primary role. By the second game, Krause realized they had something special.
“That second game of the year, we played Arrowhead and they had some monsters on defense,” Krause said. “Pregame, I had some nerves because they were significantly bigger than us. Early in the game, we ran a misdirection play and Alex jumped over a guy and had an incredible run where he just ran away from everyone else. I was like, ‘We've got the real deal.'”
That they did.
Consistent in everything he does, Current's sophomore and junior numbers are almost unbelievably identical. He's rushed 115 times both years, picking up 1,542 yards in 2018 and 1,540 last year with 23 and 22 rushing touchdowns, respectively.
“Fast. Elusive. Vision,” Current said of his running style. “And I can fall forward and get those extra yards.”
Current has also led the Warriors in receiving the last two years with 460 yards and seven scores, seemingly coming up with a big catch in every important game.
Krause puts it all together and sees a complete back.
“One thing that's underrated about Alex is that people see his speed but miss the rest,” he said. “He's got great vision and cutting ability. In the Bay Port (2019 state title) game, he made about eight guys miss on one run. He's always had good hands and makes contested catches.”
Krause paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to finish off his summary of a player who has already accomplished so much at Muskego and still has more yet to come.
“He's a play-maker.”