When the Pro Bowl rosters were announced this week by the NFL former South Carolina State star Darius Leonard wasn’t on the team despite currently leading the league in tackles. It’s not even close. The Indianapolis Colts rookie has 21 more tackles than his closest competition.
“He told me he wanted 40 tackles, but I told him it’s humanly impossible,” Colts Pro Bowl tight end Eric Ebron told ESPN. “He doesn’t care… Things like [the Pro Bowl] should really go by statistics rather than names. He’s one of the all-time great rookie linebackers statistically in a long time.”
Leonard was legitimately disappointed when he found out he wasn’t a member of the team although he was later listed as an alternate. He simply tweeted “Wow.”
“I was heartbroken at first because I thought I did enough, but it is what it is,” Leonard said.
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So can the man nicknamed “Maniac” because of his tackling prowess set the all-time record for tackles in a game? Of course not, come on. Well, he can set the record, which currently stands at 24, but 40 tackles lie somewhere in the storyline of a Michael Mann movie.
A tackle count of 25, now that’s possible and would create a great egg in the face moment for Leonard being left out. Leonard will get his chance on Sunday when the Colts host the New York Giants.
Tackling a need in the community
While Leonard didn’t get the gift of being named an outright Pro Bowl player this week, it didn’t cause him to cancel Christmas. On the very same day that he was snubbed, the Lake View, South Carolina native was back in his hometown playing Santa Claus.
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He donated one hundred bicycles to the annual Lake View High School Holiday Assembly Toy Drive benefiting local children.
That was a Pro Bowl move.