ALTHOUGH the path had more twists and turns than Botros Alisandro originally hoped, it did lead him to a Division I football program.
Alisandro, a Manchester resident who played football at Trinity High School, fulfilled a lifelong dream when accepted a full scholarship offer from Purdue on Thursday.
“I’ve worked out with a lot of D1 athletes throughout high school and I just knew where they were at and where I was at, and I knew I had that D1 talent,” Alisandro said. “Growing up, I always knew I was going to be a Division I player.”
He was better known as Peter Alisandro — Botros is Arabic for Peter — when he was a quarterback/defensive back at Trinity and led the Pioneers to the Division II state championship in 2019, his junior season. After a senior season disrupted by COVID, he played in the CHaD New Hampshire East-West All-Star Game and then spurned offers from Division II and Division III programs and enrolled at ASA Brooklyn to play junior college football.
ASA Brooklyn canceled its 2020 and 2021 seasons because of the pandemic, however, so he never played football there. After taking the fall semester off in 2021, Alisandro transferred to Snow College, a community college in Ephraim, Utah. He joined the Snow program as a walk-on, but earned a scholarship last fall.
“When he got out his senior year (at Trinity), he had some things he could have done that were lower division, but he just wanted to try and make it to a Division I school, so it became the best idea to go to a JUCO or someplace where he could develop a little bit,” Trinity coach Rob Cathcart said. “That’s what led him to a couple of the decisions he made leading up to the Purdue offer.”
Alisandro, 20. was recruited to play cornerback. He was 6-foot-1 and 181 pounds during his official visit to Purdue.
Not much has come easy for Alisandro, who was in seventh grade when his father died. He was raised by his older sisters, one of whom, Enia, accompanied Alisandro on his official visit to Purdue, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. His brother Martin, who plays football for Manchester Memorial, also went on the official visit.
“They treated my family like they’ve known them for a while,” Alisandro said. “That was a big plus for me. That’s when I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Alisandro became a known commodity to the Purdue coaching staff shortly after Marquis Wilson transferred from Penn State to Purdue last month. Wilson and Alisandro worked out together in the past, and Wilson let Purdue cornerbacks coach Sam Carter know about Alisandro. Carter’s interest was piqued and he flew to Utah to watch Alisandro take part in spring workouts.
A scholarship offer followed, and Alisandro accepted that offer after seeing the school and meeting the coaching staff during his official visit. He also had offers from Rhode Island, Central Connecticut State, LIU, Prairie View and Tarleton. The Purdue offer clearly stood out.
Alisandro has three years of athletic eligibility remaining, not including his redshirt season.
“It wasn’t a hard decision at all,” Alisandro said. “That’s a Power 5 school right there. “Big time … playing in the Big Ten.
“It happened so fast. I still haven’t been able to take it all in. I report there in a couple weeks. Still crazy to think about the fact that I’m going to be a Boilermaker.
“This has been a dream my whole life. I’ve always wanted to play in the NFL, and knew that part of that journey was going to play D1 football. This is all part of the plan.”