In Good Hands: Alex Fontenot is Alexandria’s WR1
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Alexandria Senior High football coach Thomas Bachman is a former standout wide receiver at Evangel Christian Academy who went on to play at Texas Tech and Louisiana College.
He was part of three state championships for the Eagles of Shreveport, finishing with 221 career receptions for 3,489 yards and 49 touchdowns.
Since embarking on his own coaching career, Bachman’s imparted the knowledge learned under offensive wizards Dennis Dunn at Evangel and Mike Leach at Texas Tech. They helped revolutionize offenses at their respective levels of the game and, in particular, the vertical passing game, which brought a sense of showmanship, capturing the imagination of players and fans alike.
Bachman has carried that forward in coaching stops at Bastrop and Alexandria, where he begins his 12th season with Trojans that will once again boast one of the state’s top offenses, with some of the top skill athletes that have been prevalent in trips to the Division I select state championship and state quarterfinal appearances the past two seasons.
The latest Division I prospect Bachman’s produced hits a little closer to home in senior wide receiver Alex Fontenot, a Class 5A All-State honorable mention choice a year ago, and a commitment to Maryland.
“Where I can help develop, I’m to going to give my two cents where I feel I need to,” Bachman said. “He’s so polished, he’s so hungry. Alex deserves most of the credit for how he’s developed himself.”
Fontenot, a 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, enters his senior season after his most productive year that helped Alexandria (10-3) reach the Division I select state quarterfinals against Catholic High of Baton Rouge.
Fontenot led the Trojans with 62 catches for 1,047 yards – 87.3 yards per game and 16.9 yards per catch – with 17 touchdowns. He scored in eight of his team’s 12 games, including four games with more than one score.
“I wasn’t happy with the result of losing to Catholic, but I did have a good year,” Fontenot said of his team’s 44-6 loss to the Bears, a game they led 6-3 at halftime. “We have so much talent this year. Defenses are going to have to keep it balanced and not just focus on one guy. I think I’ll have a good year.”
Deciding his future was a key component for Fontenot, who began entertaining next-level dreams, playing college football during his youth, further zeroing in on his target at the age of 13.
The former running back blossomed as a wide receiver, filling in his long frame, to go with the athleticism of a player with a 36-inch vertical jump and 40-yard dash time in the high 4.4-range.
Pitt was the first school to gain his commitment following an official visit, but it was at the urging of his mother that Fontenot kept his recruiting door open and made an official visit to Maryland.
The Terrapins, of eighth-year head coach Mike Locksley, continued to push for Fontenot’s services after his original commitment to Pitt and were able to sway him on June 23 to College Park, MD, of the Big 10 Conference, which has won the last three national championships behind Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana.
Fontenot’s one of 21 commitments for the Terrapins, which has pledges from six wide receivers. He’s the nation’s No. 117 wide receiver and the state’s No. 25 overall prospect according to On3/Rivals.com.
“I had a great weekend with the coaches,” Fontenot said. “I have a good relationship with them as well. The NIL side was good, and I would probably play there a lot earlier. I’m comfortable with where I am right now. They have a good sophomore quarterback (Malik Washington, 2,963 yards passing and 17 TDs in 2025) that can sling it around.
“I would play inside and out because I can run routes really well,” Fontenot said. “I can also go outside for the vertical routes,” Fontenot said. “The Big 10 Conference, I know what type of football it is. It’s a Power 4 (Conference), and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do since I was little. I’m excited for this.”
Bachman said it was easy to detect Fontenot’s upward path was pointed toward college football.
“He’s pretty versatile,” Bachman said of Fontenot, who is coached by wide receivers coach Brandon Wilkerson. “You could see as a young player he had the talent and ability, and he was going to have the measurables to be a recruit. He has a great work ethic, loves football, and he’s done a lot to put himself in this position.”
Fontenot was part of the freshman and junior varsity teams in his first season, developing the skills that have helped to set him apart during his next two seasons with the varsity.
During ASH’s magical 2024 season, where the Trojans went 10-0 during the regular season and captured the district 2-5A championship, Fontenot produced 27 catches for 472 yards with five touchdowns in his first season as a starter.
ASH’s offense featured Class 5A All-State first-team running back TJ Lindsey, one of the nation’s best, who amassed 2,361 yards and scored 33 touchdowns. He signed with LSU out of high school and has since transferred to Ole Miss.
The Trojans, who had a two-quarterback system with Karsen Sellers and Max Gassiott, also had two veteran receivers in seniors Darius Washington and Jimmie Duncan who were the team’s top two targets.
“We had the No. 5 running back in the country, and we fed him the ball,” Fontenot said of Lindsey. “We had two other good wide receivers.”
Alexandria’s dream season ended in a 53-8 setback to powerhouse Karr which has gone on to win its last 28 games, win a second straight Division I Select title and finish the ’25 season ranked nationally by MaxPreps.com.
The season proved beneficial for Fontenot to play in 11 of his team’s 13 games and gain the kind of experience that would serve him well.
He was meticulous in his route running, and his downfield blocking has also improved with his flexibility to play either the outside or inside wide receiver.
“We try and adapt to the talent of the locker room year in and year out,” Bachman said. “The system’s remained consistent. It adapts to the personnel we have in any given year. In today’s game, I think you need to be multiple on both sides of the ball, and that’s what we’ve tried to evolve this thing to become.
“The good thing when you get a player like Alex, he fits all of those roles regardless of what you’re trying to do,” Bachman said. “Whether we’re in heavy personnel and one receiver out there, Alex is a good one to have out there. If we’re in ‘10 personnel’ (4 wide receivers, 1 running back and no tight end), he’s really good to have out there. Regardless of the personnel grouping we’re in, Alex will be on the field.”
Sellers, a Lamar commitment, was back to lead Alexandria’s offense for a second straight season following a ’24 season where he passed for 1,718 yards and 17 TDs. A pair of junior running backs in Kason Williams and Noble Williams were also back, with Fontenot the team’s clear-cut No. 1 option at wide receiver.
“He has a really great understanding of the game,” Bachman said of Fontenot. “He has a high football IQ. He’s always been a polished kid, and all he’s done is continued to sharpen those skills.”
Alexandria won its first five games until the opening of district play at West Monroe resulted in a 34-31 setback.
The Trojans responded with three consecutive league wins over Pineville (49-3), Ruston (45-28) and Ouachita (28-21), the latter two teams of which comprised the matchup in the Division I non-select state championship game.
Fontenot enjoyed back-to-back games of 100-plus yards receiving to begin the season. Against West Feliciana, he caught five passes for 129 yards and 3 TDs and grabbed four passes for 128 yards and 2 TDs against Union Parish.
He was also helping to fill a void in the receiving corps created when junior KJ Ray sustained a season-ending injury early in the year.
Fontenot put together a stretch of six games with at least one touchdown scored – bridging the win over West Monroe with a regional playoff victory against Brother Martin.
There were two more 100-yard performances and two more with 90-plus yards.
“I’ve improved my route running and just beating press coverage off the line and going deep,” Fontenot said. “That was a big part of my game last year because we threw a lot of shot plays. I have a bigger frame this year, and I’m pretty strong.”
Fontenot exploded in a 31-14 district loss to Neville. He had career highs in receptions (12) and yards (184) with two scores.
“We were without our starting tight end, and Noble was just coming back from an injury, so we couldn’t get the running game going,” Fontenot said. “We had to throw the ball. I was just playing catch with Karsen.”
Bachman said Fontenot was the beneficiary of the team’s search to move the ball through the air against Neville.
“We threw it a little bit more that night,” he said. “He’s a guy that we’re going to target.”
A nightmarish second half in the quarterfinal against Catholic High brought Alexandria’s season to a close at 9-3.
The Trojans, who recovered a pair of first-half fumbles and led 6-3 at halftime, turned the ball over five times that led to 27 points to fuel Catholic’s 41 unanswered points in the second half.
Bachman hasn’t let his foot off the gas when it comes to scheduling this year.
Alexandria, which swept a home-and-home series with Destrehan the previous two seasons, will continue preparing to play in one of the state’s top Class 5A districts when it opens the ’26 season by hosting Bryant High of Arkansas.
The Trojans host Arkansas’ defending Class 7A state champions, which was 13-0 and won its seventh state crown in eight seasons a year ago.
After adding a degree of difficulty to the regular season in previous years with games against Carencro and St. Thomas More, ASH adds four-time state champion Lafayette Christian Academy and retains a game with Neville, which dropped from an annual district opponent to Class 4A this season.
“A lot of us have played for two years now, and we have a big senior class,” Fontenot said. “If we can take it week by week, develop right, we’ll be fine. We need to build on what we did last year. I think we have a chance to win it all.”
The offense, which scored 39 points in ‘25, a year after producing 43.1 points in ’24, has the potential to be prolific once again.
It starts with the veteran leadership of Sellers, who has passed for 3,827 yards and 49 touchdowns over the past two seasons, including career highs of 2,109 yards and 32 TDs last season.
With the return of both Kason and Noble Williams, the Trojans have 1,922 of their 2,285 rushing yards back and 18 of 24 rushing touchdowns.
“We’ve always been a run-first offense because we’ve always had great running backs,” Fontenot said.
The chemistry that already existed between Sellers and Fontenot has been raised to another level through their daily pass-catch workouts.
“I throw with him almost every day,” Fontenot said. “I can go up and get it in the red zone. Karsen just trusts me a lot. We have great timing. He can put it on the back pylon, and I can go get it.”
While defenses may pay a great deal of attention to Fontenot, the Trojans’ strength at the position could be in their numbers.
Ray is back for his senior season along with fellow senior Hayden Burford (14-97), who took over for Ray following his injury a year ago. The Trojans will also have senior Reggie Monroe, with senior defensive backs Jakyrin Griffin and Jaytun Terry able to provide needed depth on offense.
“I feel good about this group,” Bachman said. “It’s a senior group that has been playing together for a long time. He (Fontenot) should be a matchup problem for how people want to handle him. It’s just the numbers game we’re all playing. Where are they going to devote some numbers? We feel good when he’s isolated out wide.”
Fontenot welcomes additional help after dealing with tight coverage and more than one defender last season.
“It’s definitely going to open it up for me,” he said. “It should open up the field more.”
Bachman’s ecstatic Fontenot’s found his college home, alleviating some of the pressure that comes with highly touted players going into the start of their final season.
“I always knew he was going to be a college football player,” he said. “It was just a matter of him figuring out where that was going to be. That was never in question with his skill set, the talent, the measurables. There’s only so many roster spots available to these high school kids.
“We encourage them to commit, find out where you want to go before they get into their senior season,” he said. “I’m pretty sure people will continue to recruit him all the way up until signing day (in December). I’m happy he found a home.”