LSU senior defensive tackle Charles Alexander walked onto the field for Senior Day last season against Arkansas knowing he wouldn’t be in Tiger Stadium for the last time.Alexander will get another opportunity Saturday when the Tigers face the Vanderbilt Commodores in their Southeastern Conference home opener.LSU coach Les Miles believes Alexander has put himself in a position to make an impact this season. Miles said the 6-foot-3-inch, 298-pound Breaux Bridge native has lost some weight and is “faster than he has been” in the past.Alexander has been with the program throughout Miles’ tenure in Baton Rouge. He is the last remaining player on a Nick Saban-coached LSU team.”Our team has great respect for him,” Miles said. “We can’t wait to see him have the year he wants to have.”Alexander said he receives much of that respect from younger players. Most take the advice in stride without giving the 23-year-old Alexander a hard time about his age.”I guess they forgot how many years I’ve been here,” he said jokingly. “I help with the young guys and anything they need. I see it as a blessing and take it with me.”Alexander missed nearly two seasons because of injuries. The NCAA granted him a somewhat rare sixth year of eligibility in February.”I knew I was going to come back for another year,” Alexander said. “I discussed it with coach [Les] Miles and the trainers, and I wanted to come back.”Under NCAA guidelines, student-athletes have five calendar years to participate in four years of competition.The NCAA reviews the entire body of work in special cases like Alexander’s, LSU Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette said. That body of work includes a degree, which Alexander received last May.Alexander had unfinished business to take care of in a place he’s been sparingly during the years — the football field. He started for the Tigers on Saturday against Washington and had two tackles.”I just had things that were undone here,” Alexander said. “I just wanted to come back and have a complete, healthy season and just go out there and play the best ball that I can.”He saw action in the first game of his redshirt freshman season in 2005 and emerged as a run-stopping force at defensive tackle with 24 tackles one season ago. Injuries hampered his progress, however. His redshirt freshman season ended almost as soon as it got started with a foot injury during practice after the first game.During LSU’s 2007 national championship season he was injured again in practice before the South Carolina game. This time Alexander went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.”It was the last play of practice, and they called a running play, and I was just trying to shed off a block, and my knee just buckled,” he said.Alexander said his knee is “100 percent” ready to go.But if it isn’t, playing through adversity is something Mike Mowad, Alexander’s coach at Breaux Bridge High School, has witnessed.”He was a kid that was giving 100 percent every play,” he said. “He wouldn’t let a small injury keep him out for a game.”Mowad said he knew Alexander had the tools necessary to make it to the next level even then.”He was an excellent player with good character,” Mowad said. “He set goals and wanted to achieve those goals.”Alexander said he has drawn inspiration from other teammates such as junior defensive tackle Drake Nevis to stay positive. His will to get back on the field for one last season is a testament to where he wants to go.”I have a lot of friends that are in the NFL,” he said. “That’s my dream right now. I want to play in the league. I got to go out there and give it my all and hope I make it.”—-Contact Jonathan Schexayder at [email protected]