Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard is entering his second season in the league and is quickly becoming one of the best young stars in the league. His rookie year he racked up 163 tackles, seven sacks, and two interceptions. The expectations coming into this season are through the roof for Leonard and he hopes to take the next step forward.
Let's breakdown four things you need to know about the budding superstar.
4. Has dealt with a lot of tragedy in his life
To say Leonard has gone through a lot in his life might be an understatement. Over six years ago one of his nine brothers was involved in a fight and knocked out cold. The doctors told Leonard that his brother would recover so he left the hospital. Later he waited for an update on his brother's condition but never got one, his brother dad passed away.
Two of his brothers have spent time in and out of jail through their lives and Leonard has looked up to them as a road that he doesn't want to go down. All this at such a young age has motivated Leonard to be better and practice harder to live out his dream, playing in the NFL.
3. Always dreamed of being a Clemson Tiger
Leonard's dream in high school was to play for the Clemson Tigers and waited for a scholarship offer to come from his dream school.
The offer never came and he found out the reason was being they were waiting for him to become academically qualified.
By the time he was academically qualified he had already committed to South Carolina State, an FCS level school. He did get one chance to play at Death Valley in 2016 and racked up 19 tackles.
That was the game where he really started to get on everyone's radar for the NFL draft.
2. Leonard's mom is his biggest inspiration
Leonard's mom raised him and his eight siblings by herself and he has always said that she is his biggest inspiration. During his rookie season, he bought her a Mercedes-Benz and said he doesn't plan to stop there.
Leonard told TMZ Sports that the ultimate goal was to buy her a house to go along with the Mercedes that she now has.
It always is a feel-good story seeing NFL stars doing something like this for their parents.
1. Grew up in a very small town
Leonard grew up in a small town on the South Carolina North Carolina border named Lake View. Only 783 people lived in the town during the 2016 census.
It's a very poor town where most of the people live in poverty. The median income in town was just over $23,000 and the median household income was almost $33,000.
The town is on South Caroline highway nine which is one of the main routes to get to Myrtle Beach. A lot of people travel through the town heading to the Beach, but not many call it home.
Leonard is the most famous person to make it out of the town and was once handed the key to the city.
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