Fairhope two-sport star Riley Leonard may finally be close to choosing one sport over the other for his college career.
After a flurry of big-time football offers over the weekend, the Pirates’ rising senior quarterback told AL.com on Monday that he is 75 percent likely to choose football over basketball when he does make his college decision.
“It’s probably 75-25 football right now,” Leonard said. “What can I say after these past couple of days? I would be stupid not to say football. My basketball recruitment could pick up after AAU season and maybe that will change some things, but right now I can tell you -- finally after three years or so -- that I’m leaning toward football.”
Leonard had maintained as recently as last month that he had no idea whether he would play basketball or football in college.
“I wish I knew, and I wish one sport was pulling me harder,” Leonard said in early April. “But right now, I’m still indecisive. It’s hard.”
The decision is getting clearer by the day, especially after the 6-foot-3 Leonard was offered in football by Nebraska, Syracuse and Duke – all in the last five days.
“It’s pretty random,” Leonard said about the timing of the offers. “As soon as one happened, it’s kind of been a snowball effect. Those schools had been in touch with me for a while. They wanted me to go to camp, but obviously I couldn’t because of the pandemic. So, they took a chance and offered, and I’m just really thankful and blessed for the opportunities.”
Leonard already had football offers from South Alabama, Tulane and Southern Mississippi. As a junior last fall, he completed 102-of-172 pass attempts for 1,231 yards. The dual-threat standout also ran for 499 yards and eight touchdowns on 96 carries.
“I think it’s long overdue,” Fairhope coach Tim Carter said of Leonard’s increased recruiting attention. “I really feel like he would have garnered a lot of attention if we had been able to have spring practice, but it is all taking care of itself.
“Riley is a real easy kid to sell. He’s athletic, he’s intelligent, he’s competitive and he has the size requirements that they look for at that level. He’s not just tall. He can run and jump. All of those factors are what you look for in a quarterback.”
Leonard said he also has had some communication with the football staffs at Kansas and Kentucky but has not received an offer from those two yet.
“When coach (David) Cutcliffe at Duke offers a quarterback, it’s pretty special,” Carter said. “Everyone knows that.”
Leonard also has basketball offers from St. Mary’s, North Alabama, Samford and Missouri State. He helped the Pirates to the school’s first final four earlier this year, averaging 20.9 points and 8.5 rebounds a game. He also had 58 blocks and 76 steals. He was one of three finalists for Class 7A Player of the Year.
He said he plans to continue to play both sports throughout his senior year at Fairhope with aspirations of a state title in both. He said he is not ready to make a choice on which school to attend, but as far as which sport to play in the future …
“It’s hard to go basketball with all this football attention,” he said. “It’s not 100 percent football yet so there is always a chance.”
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May 05, 2020 at 02:23AM
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Fairhope 2-sport star Riley Leonard ‘leaning’ toward college football future - AL.com
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