Nicholas Nathan Leckey (born March 12, 1982) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

in the sixth round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

. 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 ...

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. Leckey played for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

and the

Early years

Leckey attended

Grapevine High School Grapevine High School is a public high school located in the far northeast portion of Tarrant County in the city of Grapevine, Texas (USA). It is part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District. Its attendance boundary includes ...

Grapevine, Texas Grapevine is a city and suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, United States, with minor portions extending into Dallas County and Denton County. The city is located in the Mid-Cities suburban region between Da ...

and was a letterwinner in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. In football, he was a three-year starter. In wrestling, he won the state championship as a senior. Leckey graduated from Grapevine High School in 2000.

College career

Leckey played

where during his career, he did not allow a sack. He majored in hotel/restaurant management. He began his career at guard before switching to center. He started 41 consecutive games. He earned first-team All-America honors from

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' as a senior. Also earned consensus All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

first-team choice and named Kansas State's Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was a finalist for the

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best American football center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College F ...

, which eventually went to

Jake Grove Charles Jacob Grove (born January 22, 1980) is a former American college and professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for Virginia Tech, and was recognized ...

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Leckey was selected by the

in the sixth round (167th overall) in the

. He made his NFL debut at the

on September 12. During his time at the Cardinals, he played in 44 games making 20 starts.

St. Louis Rams

Leckey was signed by the

as a free agent on June 6, 2007. He played in three games for the team in 2007 and started all 10 games in which he appeared in 2008.

New Orleans Saints

Leckey signed a one-year contract with the

as an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on March 17, 2009. He was waived on September 26 to make room for

Chase Daniel William Chase Daniel (born October 7, 1986) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Missouri and was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted f ...

who was signed off the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was re-signed by the Saints on September 29. Leckey played in eight regular season games and all three postseason games in 2009, mostly on special teams with some work at center. He was re-signed on March 7, 2010. Leckey was released on September 4, 2010.

Personal life

Leckey is married to Erin Kathleen Leckey. After retiring from football, he returned to Kansas State and received his degree in hotel and restaurant management in December 2012."From pigskin to sheepskin: Nick Leckey chosen as student commencement speaker"

College of Human Ecology, November 16, 2012.

References

External links

Kansas State Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leckey, Nick 1982 births Living people Players of American football from Dallas County, Texas American football offensive guards American football centers Kansas State Wildcats football players Arizona Cardinals players St. Louis Rams players New Orleans Saints players Players of American football from Grapevine, Texas