Like a storybook hero who returns to the castle to re-arm before resuming the battle, Alonso returned to the land of his ancestors on his mother's side to recover and start again. Two ligament injuries in his left knee altered a career in the NFL that had started at full speed. Alonso racked up 87 tackles, four interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in his first season with the Buffalo Bills, the team that drafted him in the second round in 2013 from the University of Oregon. He was named Defensive Rookie of the Year. The knee problems, however, led to him missing the entire 2014 season and part of 2015, after Buffalo traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles later traded him to the Miami Dolphins.
"Now I feel better than ever," said Alonso, speaking in his native Spanish. He will spend three weeks renewing his energy at his family estate, in preparation for a new beginning with the Dolphins.
He said things at the ranch haven't changed much. Little is different from what he remembered of his childhood days there.
He's the one who has changed.
"I can appreciate things a lot more," Alonso said. "I can appreciate all this a lot more."
In the morning, he jogged around the polo field and then swam in the pool. He said the knee has 100 percent recovered. Miami coaches who saw him in the first minicamps of the year
confirmed that was true.
In fact, the knee is already a minor issue in this career restart for Alonso. The main thing is the rediscovery of himself.
The young man is experiencing a reconnection with his Latin roots. It's perhaps enhanced by his arrival at the Dolphins, a team with a large Hispanic fan base, one that happens to include Alonso's father.
The Dolphins project Alonso as their starting middle linebacker for the upcoming season, and he is well aware: "Yes, it’s clear that is my position to lose."
His natural position is middle linebacker, although at some point the Bills tried to move him to outside linebacker. "That's my place," he said. "It is the most complete role. You have to do it all. Go inside and out, rush the passer, stop the runner, go back in coverage. What I like is to knock down the ball carrier; I'll do whatever it takes to take him down, anything within the rules. But besides the strength to hit, a linebacker must have agility, speed, good hands."
Hands good enough, for example, to intercept four passes as a rookie? Alonso nodded. "I think playing baseball as a boy gave me soft hands."
If offenses assign Alonso a double block, perhaps his fights as a child gave him the tools to overcome the two against one. Carlos and his other brother, Lucas, two years younger, always formed a duo to face him. "It was fair," Alonso admitted. "I was the biggest of the three."
"They would fight all day," recalled his mother. "It was Carlos and Lucas against Kiko. The only memories I have of that stage of my life was to be following them through the different corners of the house, hurrying up to move the ornaments before they would end up breaking them."
Alonso was a standout linebacker in high school in Los Gatos, California, and he remained so when he moved on to college with the Oregon Ducks. Los Gatos coaches sometimes made him align on the other side of the ball as a tight end, and he says he has something to contribute on offense.
"We have good tight ends in Miami," he said, "but if the Dolphins need me for a specific play, I can move on that side of the ball. I've already told the coaches that if they want me out there in a goal-line situation, I'm ready to jump into the field. I have some specific plays at hand, but I won't reveal them."
In the beginning, when playing street football with his friends, Alonso lined up as a wide receiver. "I pretended to be Randy Moss, my childhood idol. In those years of Moss in Minnesota, the quarterback, Daunte Culpepper, would throw long passes with his powerful arm, and Randy would burn them all."
In a twist of fate, another passion in Alonso’s life has ties with the Vikings -- and with his Hispanic heritage.
Gabriela, his girlfriend, is the daughter of Joe Kapp, the famous quarterback of the late '60s. With a father of German descent and a mother of Mexican heritage, Kapp was described as
"The Toughest Chicano" by Sports Illustrated after he led the Minnesota Vikings to Super Bowl IV, where they were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.
Just like his daughter's boyfriend, Kapp loved hitting rivals, which is definitely unusual for a quarterback. At the time, the media described Kapp as
"one half of a collision, looking for the other half."
"Joe was a linebacker playing quarterback," joked Alonso. He does not hide his respect and admiration for one of only eight players in NFL history who threw seven touchdown passes in a game, a record that Kapp managed against the Baltimore Colts in September 1969. "He was another kind of player," Alonso marveled. "The passion he had. He still has that passion. He tells me stories about the time when he was playing, and it was something else. They were very different players at that time."
His conversations with Kapp, his relationship with his girlfriend and his return to his family roots are helping Alonso to see his life from a new perspective.
Although fluent in Spanish, he sometimes lacks specific vocabulary for what he wants to say. For example, Alonso asked how to say "mature" and "immature." He needs those words to make reference to his
behavioral and alcohol problems at university, which resulted in him getting hit with serious suspensions in Oregon.
"I was young and immature," he admitted. "I was a child. I did stupid things. Now I know that some things should not be done. I'm not invincible. I should be careful, and even more in the NFL, with people always focusing their cameras on the players. In college I was a little crazy. Now, I am more mature and feel more relaxed. I know I have to think before acting. I'm smarter, I learned from what happened and I'm more careful. I remember how I thought at the time, and I'm surprised at how silly I was. It's amazing to realize that you were a different person at a different time. You become aware that the person you are now is not the same as you were five or six years ago. You look at that person, and you see a completely different individual from what you are now. That's life. Everything grows. Everything changes."
