
09-08-2023, 06:05 AM
|
Post whore
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Indiana
Posts: 5,057
Thanks: 2,385
Thanked 2,515 Times in 1,415 Posts
|
|
Make people shut up': Cleared, Colts Shaquille Leonard out to prove doubters wrong again
Quote:
INDIANAPOLIS — Shaquille Leonard has heard every criticism, seen every post, read every word written.
He keeps the worst ones.
Saves them as screenshots to his phone, pictures he can call up any time he wants.
Leonard knows there are people saying he’ll never be the same player again, doubting his ability to come back full strength from the injury that plagued him for years, limited him to just three games last season and forced two surgeries.
“I’m just gaining more heart, knowing that so many people are counting me out, just having the will to keep going,” Leonard said. “No matter how many times I’ve been knocked down, just continue to get back up and continue to put my best foot forward.”
Aug 12, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard (53) warms up before a pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Leonard has been cleared from the NFL’s concussion protocol, leaving no obstacles in his way to starting the season opener against the Jaguars on Sunday, both the end of a long road and the beginning of a new one.
He spent a long time, too long, battling the effects of the pressure two discs in his back were putting on the nerves leading to his left leg. First there was the problem of thinking it was only the ankle, then the discovery of the spinal injury, then returning from surgery too quickly, leading to a second surgery last November.
Leonard believes he’s back now. The three-time first-team All-Pro linebacker was cleared physically at the start of training camp and kept checking off markers on his way back to the starting lineup.
“It’s better,” Leonard said. “I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to the guy I was back in ’19. I’m happy with where I’m at.”
A concussion suffered in the first joint practice against the Chicago Bears has been Leonard’s only setback.
Leonard has been through three concussions now in the NFL — one in 2019, one last season and this one in training camp — but he says he’s not concerned about concussions going forward.
He’s ready to play.
How much he plays against Jacksonville will be left up to the coaching staff. The Colts have carefully ramped up Leonard’s workload over the course of training camp, but he was a full participant in practices before suffering the concussion against the Bears.
From the sounds of it, he’d like to be on the field as much as possible.
“That’s not my job to decide that,” Leonard said. “My job is to go out there and play as many plays as I possibly can. If the coaches say there’s a pitch count, it is what it is. I have no idea.”
Leonard is keeping his goals simple this season, drawing on familiar motivation, the slights that have motivated him throughout his career.
While some athletes try to avoid the noise, Leonard embraces it, and he has a lot of ammunition in his phone now. Two years of doubt, two years seeing people say he’ll never be back from the injury, among other things.
The rise of social media has made it easier than ever to find the critics.
“I’d say 60-40 you listen to it, because it gives you that drive and that fire to go keep fighting,” Leonard said. “When people talk trash and say things, some people can go the other way with it and truly go downhill.”
Trash talk has always pushed Leonard the other way.
Simply by taking the field Sunday against the Jaguars, he’ll be proving some critics wrong, but that’s never been enough for Leonard.
He’s out there to prove he’s back to being a difference-maker, the kind of havoc-wreaking presence he’s been in every full season as a Colt, even when he was less than 100%.
If anybody doubts he can do that, he’s probably already seen the words.
“With me, I try to use that as fuel to make my game go up,” Leonard said. “Make people shut up. That’s the goal, each and every week.”
Then he goes out and finds new people to muzzle.
|
|