You’d never be able to tell by talking to Brian Leonard. The quick answers. The deflected praise to his teammates. He’s just a small-town guy who prefers to give his Rutgers teammates the credit that’s due to him.

But in the tiny village of Gouverneur, tucked away in northern New York, is a boisterous following that never lets him leave the spotlight when he’s home.

There are fewer than 5,000 of them, but they love him as much as Scrantonites love Gerry McNamara. They grew up watching Leonard play. They cheered him on as he shattered high school state records. They celebrated when he accepted a scholarship to play football at Rutgers in 2001. And they’re gearing up for the biggest homecoming trip Gouverneur has ever seen when Leonard and the Scarlet Knights play Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Saturday at noon.

‘This is a major football event happening, any time you can see a Division I player from your town close by and playing at the next level,’ Gouverneur High School Principal John Dixon said. ‘This is big for a little town like Gouverneur.’

So big that several buses have already been arranged to transport hundreds to see Leonard – if he’s cleared by trainers. A ‘banged up’ thigh could sideline Leonard on Saturday.

Still, Gouverneur residents are ditching their neighbor’s wedding to make the two-hour drive southwest to Syracuse and hoping to return in time for the reception. Leonard estimates 1,000 North Country residents will be in attendance.

That’s what happens when Leonard is only the second player – his older brother Nate was the first – to come from Section X in the North Country and play Division I-A football. Before them, Gouverneur’s high-water mark was one Division I-AA college player in the last 30 years.

When Leonard was named a freshman All-America selection and Big East freshman of the year by College Football News last year, he made headlines in Gouverneur, and residents swelled with pride.

They, too, reveled in the glory of Leonard running for a team-high 880 yards, pulling down a team-high 53 catches for 488 yards and leading the Scarlet Knights with 14 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman fullback.

‘Everyone in the area kept calling our house and telling us how proud they were of Brian,’ said Mark Leonard, Brian’s father. ‘Now when my wife and I go to the supermarket or anywhere, we wear our Rutgers apparel. People are always talking about Brian and talking football with us.’

It’s about so much more than football, though. It’s about Leonard’s character, his academic excellence, his unassuming way of accepting much more success than his little town has ever experienced.

‘Everyone knows who he is,’ Dixon said. ‘He’s an icon, a legend, someone people look up to and compare themselves to.’

His jersey No. 23 went on sale in the Scarlet Fever sports shop in New Brunswick, N.J., just a month ago, but owner Stephen Ostergren has already sold more than 100 jerseys, including quite a few mail orders to northern New York.

‘I don’t know who those people are, but I know that I’ve been sending lots of boxes up there,’ Ostergren said, ‘and not only to people with the last name of Leonard, but to a lot of others, too.’

The most important Leonard that helped pave the way for such success is actually Nate Leonard, who played linebacker and tailback at Gouverneur. In an odd twist of fate, the first varsity game Brian played in as a freshman was his brother’s last one, as his senior year was cut short by a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Gouverneur head coach Joe Wahl didn’t hesitate to replace Nate with his younger brother.

‘Everything happens for a reason,’ Nate said. ‘Maybe it happened so he could go on to play at the varsity level, break tons of records and have a great career.’

Brian took the opportunity and literally ran with it. By the time he stopped, he’d broken the state all-time record for points scored with 696 and rewritten the school record books by rushing for 2,398 yards and scoring 47 touchdowns in his senior year alone.

He’d finally grown into his frame and was now a beast of a fullback with incredible strength, speed and good hands. Wisconsin and Penn State came calling in hopes of landing a big running back needed for the Big Ten.

But Brian had other plans. He wanted to play football at the program that gave his brother a chance when most schools passed after he tore his ACL. Brian wanted to play alongside his brother, and when he fell in love with the young coaching staff Greg Schiano had assembled, Leonard found his perfect match.

Nate’s recurring knee injuries prevented him from playing with his brother. But Brian flourished anyway after redshirting his first year. Two years later, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound fullback has quietly become the Scarlet Knights’ biggest weapon.

‘He just rolls with the punches and doesn’t say much,’ Schiano said. ‘He’s not one of the guys you’ll hear bellowing in the locker room before or after a game.’

Brian’s parents still admit he’s rather shy. Nate even said the New Jersey journalists lament about how hard it is to get anything out of him.

‘That’s one thing I don’t like to do – I don’t like to talk about my success or my awards,’ Brian said. ‘That just gets your head big.’

Brian Leonard might not be the loudest guy on the Carrier Dome turf Saturday, but his section of Gouverneur supporters will certainly be making up for it – assuming Leonard plays.

‘You can bet he had this Syracuse game circled on the calendar,’ Schiano said. ‘He’s coming home. His friends and family will be there watching, and you know he’s going to want to put on a show for them.’

Published on September 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm