Leshoure Works Hard to Become Illini's 'Guy'
October 7, 2010 | Football
Oct. 7, 2010
By John Lock, Illinois Sports Information
Offensive lineman Jeff Allen thinks Mikel Leshoure broke out in the Michigan State game last year - Leshoure collected 63 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in just four touches.
"He showed sparks of being a great player - a lot of bursts," Allen said. "From that game on, he stepped up a lot."
Running backs coach DeAndre Smith thinks Leshoure asserted himself shortly after Smith was hired this year. Smith wasn't going to hand anybody the job--he wouldn't dare say that. Leshoure was going to have to earn it and he did.
Leshoure wants to be the guy who gets the ball on third and one, the guy who is in the backfield every play when the team needs a touchdown, the guy who leads the team on-field and off.
Mikel Leshoure has no idea when he became the guy. He always wanted to be the guy, but competing with talented teammates Jason Ford and Troy Pollard isn't easy. Maybe at some point last year he started to stand out a little, he says.
Maybe it happened in that Michigan State game. Maybe it happened in the back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances against Purdue and Michigan. Maybe the career-high 184 yards on just 11 carries in the season finale vs. Fresno State. Maybe it happened this summer with his extra work ethic and balanced diet.
Whenever it happened, Mikel Leshoure has become "the guy" for this year's Illini team.
Leshoure has averaged 132.7 yards per game over the first three games this season on 19.3 carries per game, which equates to an eye-popping 6.9 yards per carry. He is second in the conference in rushing yards and yards per game for the Illini's third-ranked rushing offense.
The success isn't new for Leshoure. He averaged 6.8 yards per carry last season, leading the Illini to another season in which they averaged 200 yards per game, the second time that's happened in the last three seasons.
Leshoure takes his responsibility as the guy seriously. He watches the fried chicken and fried fish that he craves and doesn't eat late anymore. He's dropped five pounds and his body fat is down to about 4 percent. He put in more time in the weight and film rooms.
"You're either getting better or worse," Leshoure said, "so I emphasized pushing myself this offseason."
Smith didn't know much about Leshoure or the other Illini running backs when he was approached for the job, so he started calling around. Smith has a lot of friends in Big Ten country and the reviews were unanimous: Illinois has talent.
"The one thing I heard from my Big Ten buddies was that Illinois had some big-time running backs," Smith said.
He wanted to see which of those backs would bring it every day and Leshoure eventually got up for the challenge. He asked out of a practice in spring ball, but he's not doing that any more. Despite the bumps and bruises that come with averaging 20 carries per game back in Division I football, Leshoure is out on the field every day, practicing harder than anybody, setting an example, being the guy.
"He understands he has to be the leader," Smith said. "He understands that if he's going to be the guy, he has to carry the football team. I told him, `If you're going to be the guy, you have to show it in practice every day.'"
Smith thinks the sky is the limit for Leshoure - as long as he continues to improve pass blocking and finishing runs. Smith has seen good things from Leshoure - three straight 100-yard games to start the season and four in a row counting his 184-yard performance to end 2009. If he gets his fifth-straight 100-yard game today, he will be the only person in school history with such a feat.
"I want to see spectacular," Smith said.
That will be an even taller order than normal against Ohio State, a team that hasn't allowed an individual to rush for 100 yards since 2008, a string of 27 games. The Buckeyes also have allowed only seven players to rush for 100 yards since 2005, fewest in the nation in the last 69 games. But one of those was former Illini Daniel Dufrene, who accomplished the feat during Illinois' 28-21 upset of the top-ranked Buckeyes in 2007.
Smith expects a 100-yard rusher every game but his focus is on each individual run. If his running back corps does what he wants on every play, the team is going to average five yards per run. If the Illini average five yards per run over the course of a game, they're going to win, Smith says.
Leshoure is in tune with Smith's goals. He doesn't set expectations before the game, he sets expectations at the line of scrimmage. If the team needs 20 yards for a first down, Leshoure is gunning for a 20-yard run. If the team needs five yards, he aims for five yards.
"Eventually, you bust something open and you have a 100-yard game," Leshoure said.
Leshoure is looking for one of those 100-yard games against the Buckeyes, the team he says Illinois players want to beat most in the Big Ten. He doesn't care if no one gives the team a chance - "We could care less what other people think" - they have the opportunity and they have to take advantage of it.
Leshoure didn't get the chance to play Ohio State two years ago after an altercation left him with a broken jaw. As far as he has come on the field - his rushing output through three games is almost half of his rushing totals from his first two years combined - every coach is quick to laud his maturity growth off the field.
"Coach (Ron Zook) always says that the person we are off the field is the person we are on the field," Leshoure said. "I've made an effort to push myself in the classroom and in the community, and that has carried over to good play on the field."
Around Thanksgiving last year, Leshoure and his mom, Jacqueline, gave five turkeys and five hams to a pair of Champaign shelters - the Times Center and the Center for Women in Transition - a tradition he is planning on continuing this year.
"Being from this area, he has a lot of people who support him," Smith said. "It's great to see him giving back."
Leshoure, who is from Champaign, invites players over to his mom's house for meals. Before the Missouri game, the spread included chicken, ribs, fish and even macaroni and cheese.
"A lot of guys aren't from here and don't get to see their parents all the time," Leshoure said. "So I invite them over for home-cooked meals all the time."
Allen thought it was one of the best meals he has ever had; he's happy Leshoure is looking out for the lineman that have opened up the holes.
"He takes care of us," Allen said. "He's getting those yards. We get an extra sandwich for extra effort."
Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino thinks Leshoure could be a 30-carry-per-game back. After all, that's why Leshoure is on the Doak Walker Award watch list. That's why he was named preseason second-team All-Big Ten by Lindy's, Athlon and Phil Steele magazines.
Allen saw flashes of Leshoure's potential when they both came in a semester earlier than the other freshmen in their class: "We were both talented and both out of shape."
Now, Leshoure is an upperclassmen and is in the best shape of his life. And when it was fourth-and-one and the Illini needed a first down against Northern Illinois two weeks ago, Mike Leshoure heard his number called. Seven plays later, Leshoure busted a 29-yard touchdown run to ice the victory.
After all, he got his wish. Mikel Leshoure is the guy.
