Alex Singleton has faced many obstacles on his path to carving out an NFL career.
The former Thousand Oaks High School star played college ball at Montana State. He didn’t hear his name called in the 2015 NFL Draft.
He was signed and released six different times by four different NFL teams and spent two years in the Canadian Football League, where he earned a reputation as an aggressive, prolific tackler before he finally broke out with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL in 2020.
But when the Denver Broncos linebacker tore his ACL in a game against Tampa Bay on Sept. 22, 2024, just the third game of the season, it was the first time he’d ever felt he had been truly defeated.
“This was the first thing that ever actually stopped me,” Singleton said. “You can keep working if you are getting cut, you can keep believing in yourself, but this was the one time I had to sit out for nine months. There is no other way around that.”
Singleton famously stayed on the field for the rest of the game, 49 more snaps, and led the Broncos to a win with 10 tackles before he and the team discovered the injury after the game.
Flash forward nine months, and so much has changed.
The 31-year-old is ready to play football once again, and he has so much more to play for.
Singleton underwent surgery to repair his ACL on Oct. 15, 2024. His daughter, Tallyn Maye, was born nearly four months to the day later, in the first week of the offseason.
“It’s the coolest thing in the world, I think,” Singleton said of his daughter’s birth. “It definitely puts life in perspective in the best way. She is the best motivation for me to try to play another 10 years of football.”
With his first child on the way, Singleton had a little extra inspiration to get his body right. That extra inspiration persists now, he said, as he prepares for his seventh NFL season.
“It will be the first time, when camp starts, that I am not staying in the house with her,” Singleton said. ”It will be motivating to see her at practice every day.”
But with all that change, the opportunity to feel some familiarity seems welcome for Singleton.
The Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee debuted a summer football camp at his alma mater three years ago, deciding to give back to his community just as he was beginning to find his own success in the NFL.
The camp, and Singleton’s legacy at Thousand Oaks High, have only grown in the years since.
Kids who attended the first iteration of the camp are now student-athletes at Thousand Oaks themselves, helping to put on the event as coaches, according to Singleton.
“They can really teach the game and enjoy it,” Singleton said. “That’s the whole point. For everyone to enjoy it, not just the (kids) who are here, but the coaches coaching and the parents watching. It’s for everybody.”
Singleton roamed the football field at his former stomping grounds on June 28 — greeting, teaching, blocking, cheering and signing autographs for the more than 100 kids who attended this year’s camp.
“It is the most special place I have ever played. My first dreams were to play high school football here,” Singleton said. “I think it means more to me every year.”
William Goldberg, 11, of Thousand Oaks was one of the first campers in line to get his T-shirt signed by the Broncos captain in the final minutes of the event.
“I have always wanted something signed by a professional football player,” Goldberg said, beaming. “He is really cool, one of the coolest people I have ever met.”
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for the Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.