Mikel Leshoure (born March 30, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He was drafted by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in the second round of the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Early years

Leshoure attended Centennial High School in Champaign, Illinois. During his career, he rushed for 4,652 yards on 681 carries and scored 52 rushing touchdowns.

College career

As a freshman at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, Leshoure played sparingly collecting 126 yards on 35 carries. Leshoure first received a significant amount of playing time as a sophomore, playing in 12 games and running for 734 yards on only 108 carries. During the 2010 season, Leshoure rushed for 1697 yards on 281 carries (126.1 yards per game, which was eighth best in the nation) with 17 touchdowns, playing in all 13 games. and capping off the season by scoring three touchdowns in the Illini's 38-14 victory over Baylor in the

2010 Texas Bowl The 2010 Texas Bowl was the fifth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game started at 5:00 PM US CST on Wednesday, December 29, 2010. The game was telecast on ESPN for the second tim ...

. He also is the Illinois single game rushing record holder by rushing for 330 yards against Northwestern.

Statistics

Professional career

Detroit Lions

Leshoure was taken with the 57th overall pick in the second round of the

by the

. On August 8, 2011, Leshoure tore his Achilles tendon in practice after a collision with

Cliff Avril Clifford Samuel Avril (born April 8, 1986) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football at Purdue and was drafted in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He has also played for the Seattle Seahaw ...

, and missed his entire rookie season. After being suspended for the first two games of the 2012 season and missing his entire rookie season, Leshoure made his NFL debut in Week 3 against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

. Leshoure had 26 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown, but the Lions lost 44-41 in overtime. On August 30, 2014, Leshoure was released by the Lions as a 53-man roster cut.

BC Lions

Leshoure signed with the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

on February 5, 2016. He was released by the team on May 5, 2016.

References

External links

Illinois profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leshoure, Mikel 1990 births Living people American football running backs Canadian football running backs BC Lions players Detroit Lions players Illinois Fighting Illini football players Sportspeople from Champaign, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 21st-century African-American sportspeople