Pitt Freshman CB Mason Alexander Killed in Car Crash

Pitt freshman cornerback Mason Alexander has died after an automobile accident in his hometown of Fishers, Indiana on Saturday.

Alexander, 18, was a passenger in a fatal crash on Florida Road, near Southeastern parkway and Interstate 69, around 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, according to a press release from the the Hamilton County (Ind.) sheriff’s office.

The HCSO said that a 2016 BMW 340 was heading south Florida Road and a 2015 Toyota Rav4 was traveling northbound. The BMW drove into the northbound land, attempting to pass a car in the southbound lane. Trying to avoid hitting the Toyota, the BMW maneuvered back in the southbound lane, but over-corrected, which resulted in the vehicle swerving off the road. Police said the BMW hit a mailbox, slid through the grass, hit a tree, and caught on fire. Alexander was pronounced dead at the scene and the sheriff’s office confirmed his identity.

Alexander was a four-star cornerback recruit out of Hamilton Southeastern High School and enrolled early to the University of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh media spoke with Alexander for the first time on Wednesday, and he said his goal was to make it to the NFL.

“It’s hard to find the words to say right now,” Peyton Daniels, a high school teammate of Alexander’s, wrote on X. “Mason lit up every room he was in. Brought joy and playfulness to everything and everyone. He could change the entire direction of your day with one interaction. Mason is the embodiment of exceptional. Rest Easy 15. Love forever.”

Pitt is currently on spring break with no football-related activities scheduled for this week. A request for comment from an athletics department spokesperson was not immediately returned.

Alexander was a key piece of Pitt football’s 2025 recruiting class committing to the Panthers over other offers from Auburn, Ball State, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia State, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pitt, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Toledo, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.

The 5-foot-10 corner spoke on Wednesday about what led him to Pitt.

“It was definitely the coaching staff. I feel like you hear that a lot too. I was a high recruit. Pitt was my first offer, and I looked past them at first. In the long run, the coaches stuck with me. Every time they call just to check in. [Pat Narduzzi] called just to check in just to see how I was doing. That overall bond I got to build with all the coaches is definitely what hooked me in,” he said.

Alexander was looking forward to working with cornerbacks coach Archie Collins and safeties coach Cory Sanders as he set himself up with lofty goals.

“Coach Archie, coach Sanders, two DB coaches I usually hang with. Coach Bates. Coach Archie stood out to me because every time he came to see me, we would talk and we would talk about ball. He would ask me, ‘Do you want to talk about ball or do you want to talk just to talk?’ When we talked about ball, he broke everything down and the way he did it, it helped me learn it a lot fast than usually I would.

“Coach Archie and coach Sanders are basically a copy and paste of each other. Both really good coaches who put a lot of good people in the league and that’s where I want to be when I get to that point in age. That’s where my end goal is going to be. I want to be in the NFL and I want to be able to represent coach Sanders coach Archie as the best corner who could do it.”