Where would Leonard Fournette be if not for the game of football? It’s a question the NFL draft hopeful answered during an interview with PFT Live.
He told PFT Live that he considers football “to be a literal life-saver,” per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. He said that the game, which he started playing as a freshman in high school, kept him away from the darker elements of life.
“I could have been like any knucklehead out here selling drugs, a criminal or doing whatever. But no, I was on the football field 24/7,” Fournette said.
Instead of selling drugs, Fournette became one of the top high school prospects in the nation and went on to do big things as an All-American at LSU. In his three seasons with the Tigers, Fournette racked up 4,356 yards from scrimmage and 41 total touchdowns.
He’s projected to be a high first-round pick by most analysts, and if he can stay healthy Fournette has the potential to become a bell-cow running back for a long time.