Alex Briones uses three deaths in family, friends as fuel and motivation

Four years younger than Derrick, Alex grew up as a quarterback and spent countless hours refining his football game with his older brother, who just so happened to be a wide receiver. 

Derrick would come home from high school and hang out with Alex as a brother and best friend. In return, Alex attended all of his football games at Ishpeming High School, closely watching his every move. 

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“I looked up to him a lot,” Alex said. “I wanted to be just like him.”

On Feb. 24, 2011, Derrick died at the age of 18 years old. Throughout his journey to becoming a starting linebacker for Central Michigan University, Alex lost three loved ones.

Daniel Olson, Alex’s predecessor at quarterback, friend of Derrick and son of Ishpeming head coach Jeff Olson, committed suicide in 2012 at 19 years old. Marcus Antilla, 19, died from hypothermia in 2017. He was Alex’s top wide receiver at Ishpeming. 

Alex doesn’t play Division I football for himself, not even the least bit. He takes the field every Saturday for Derrick Briones, Daniel Olson and Marcus Antilla.

“I had to make a decision,” Alex explained. “I could either go down the wrong path or I could pursue football and be that type of kid. I wanted to be just like (Derrick), so that’s what I did. I ended up being pretty decent at it.

“You just have to tell your family you love each other because you never know.”

Alex has a story to share – one of devastation, hope and determination.

It was fourth down and inches in the 2012 Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 7 football state championship at Ford Field. Ishpeming held a 20-14 lead over Detroit Loyola with only minutes left in the game. 

A failed first down conversion would give Loyola the football 19 yards away from the end zone, a punt would give the Bulldogs the ball near midfield, and a first down would secure the state title for Ishpeming.

Alex, the junior quarterback, was staring down now-Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Malik McDowell on the Detroit Loyola defensive line. He only needed an inch for a first down. Alex received the ball and plunged up the middle.

He bulldozed through McDowell for the first down, and Ishpeming won the state championship for the first time in Olson’s 21 years of coaching the Hematites.

Olson fell to his knees and cried. 

Four months before the state championship game, his son Daniel committed suicide on July 19, 2012. When Daniel was a junior in 2010, he was unable to capture a state title for his father – losing 28-26 to Hudson High School in the finale after winning the first 12 games of the season. 

All Daniel wanted was for his father to win a state title, and Alex made sure his wish came true – twice.

“We had a picnic before team camp started to be together,” Alex said. “The whole team agreed the season would be for Daniel. We kept it going, supported our coach and won the state championship.”

Daniel’s father was officially a state champion, 127 days following his son’s death. 

Olson remembers the 2012 championship vividly, recanting moments where it felt as if there was an extra set of hands on the team throughout the game.

Being named to the Detroit Free Press All-State football team in 2010 as a junior quarterback, Daniel was an influence in the life of Alex, who was just a freshman when Daniel was a senior at Ishpeming in 2011. 

Despite their age difference, Daniel made it a priority to prepare Alex to take over under center for his father following his departure to play football at St. Norbert’s College. 

Alex, as a senior in 2013, guided Ishpeming to a 22-12 defeat of Detroit Loyola to repeat as MHSAA Division 7 state champions.

In the 2013 state title, Alex connected with Antilla, a junior tight end, for the first touchdown of the game. It was a 17-yard score with 8:45 to play in the first quarter. He later completed a two-point conversion to Antilla, giving Ishpeming a 22-0 edge early in the third.

“We were just some kids from the U.P.,” Briones said. “Our nose tackle was a 5-foot-8, 175-pound wrestler. We were some grinders. I threw (Antilla) that touchdown, and he made some other plays. I have great memories of that kid.” 

While gearing up for his junior season of Division I football at Central Michigan, Alex was told by family and friends that Antilla died from hypothermia while searching for firewood on a hiking trip in the Rocking Chair Lakes area of the Upper Peninsula on April 29, 2017. 

Facing the third passing of a loved one in only six years, Alex was devastated but felt numb to the concept death.

His brother Derrick’s death in 2011 influenced Alex the most. Even though Derrick was a senior when Alex was just in eighth-grade, the eldest Briones knew of his younger brother’s football talent. 

“My brother is going to be way better than me,” Derrick would tell family, friends and high school coaches. 

In eighth grade, Alex was working out with all the older kids. Derrick’s plan all along was to push his brother, making him the best Briones on the gridiron. 

“Shit, he was like a big dog,” Alex said. “We’ve had a lot of good memories. Watching him was so fun because I looked up to him. I knew I wanted to be just like him.”

In the blink of an eye, Derrick’s life was stopped short. 

Alex, who respectfully declined to explain his brother’s cause of death, has been without Derrick for seven years, knowing he will never see him again. At first, he was mad at God. Then, he was mad at everyone else.

He still opens his eyes every morning and thinks of his brother. Heading into practice or workouts, some days are more difficult than others. Alex and the other football players are told to drop everything at the door to focus.

Sometimes, all Alex wants to do is lay in bed and cry.

“If you’re having a bad day, that’s going to affect practice,” Alex said. “I feel like sometimes the coaches don’t understand that. Mental illness should be taken seriously. I have my own problems because of it.”

From the outside looking in, people expect football players like Alex to be tough. But football players are not super heroes; they are normal people with an athletic ability and passion for the sport. 

“Alex and I went through a lot, but adversity builds strength,” Olson said. “That doesn’t mean you’re not hurting inside, and that’s a constant. We have to deal with our losses every day.”

Olson went back-and-forth with himself – to coach or not to coach? Thirty-six days after the death of Daniel, he took the field for the Hematites. His team earned a 34-0 victory over Iron Mountain High School to open the 2012 season with Alex under center.

The entire 2012 season was dedicated to Daniel and Derrick, and the team created the “Do It For Daniel and Derrick” slogan.

Alex does not often talk to his college teammates about Derrick, Daniel or Marcus. Some players know nothing about what Alex has been through, and Central Michigan coach John Bonamego only knows minor details.

Journeying from losing Derrick and Daniel to playing Division I football as an under recruited prospect from the Upper Peninsula, Alex persevered. 

He was granted his only Division I offer from Central Michigan on Dec. 19, 2013 and committed on the spot.

“Damn, I’ve got to take that,” Alex remembers thinking.

Central Michigan’s previous coach, Dan Enos, recruited Alex as a quarterback. Once Bonamego became the head coach in 2015, the 6-foot-2, 228-pound athlete made the switch to linebacker. 

Before his CMU career is over, Alex hopes to get one drive at quarterback – just like the old days with Derrick in the backyard. He wears the No. 17 jersey, just like Derrick did for the Hematites. 

Prior to each game, Alex prays to God. No longer out of anger, but thankfulness for every opportunity to wake up and live. When he takes the field, he often feels an extra boost from Derrick, Daniel and Marcus. 

If there is one thing Alex understands from the devastations of his past, it’s that life is precious. Hope helped him hold on, and determination continues to keep him going.

“I have to live the rest of my live without seeing my older brother,” Alex said. “I’m playing football, and he’s never going to be at the stadium to watch me. I’ve lost all these people, but I’m still here. I play for them.”