Starting Lineup: Mustangs ready to turn over a new Leaf with Lebron at the helm
To recognize the top players in Berks County football MikeDragoSports.com has selected the “Starting Lineup,” a preseason All-Berks team that includes the top linemen, backs, receivers, linebackers, and specialists.
Players are selected based on past performance, expected performance this season and college potential. Two-way players were given special consideration.
One player will be introduced each day throughout the preseason, in random order (the players are not ranked). This is the first installment of the series.
Lebron Leaf, Governor Mifflin
| 6-2 | 195 | Senior | QB/LB |
For years Lebron Leaf envisioned himself playing quarterback for Governor Mifflin.
He watched Connor Maryniak, who could beat you with his legs as well as his arm, quarterback the Mustangs to their only District 3 championship in 2021 and saw himself doing the same.
“You dream for that,” he said, “being the high school quarterback.”
He was in position to do that last season, then he took a nasty hit early in the season, tore the labrum in his right shoulder, then was forced to put his quarterbacking dreams on the back burner. He gritted his teeth, stayed on the field, and showed his coaches – and others around Section 2 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League – that he could be the guy to lead the Mustangs.
He topped the team in tackles from his spot at safety and earned second-team all-league honors on defense. He didn’t get the ball much on offense but when he did he made the most of it, averaging an eye-popping 12.2 yards on 39 carries.
Now, healthy and a senior, he gets his first extended shot behind center.
“He’s the best athlete in the school,” says Mifflin coach Nick Morrissey unabashedly. “He’s smart, a great leader. He’s strong as all get-out.
“In our (Triple Option) offense, we don’t throw the ball (a lot),” he said. “As you’ve seen before, with (someone like) Jan Johnson, (the idea is) just get the best athlete the ball as much as you can, and that’s where we’re at.”
The Mustangs have never had a quarterback quite like Leaf. He’s an explosive athlete who plays basketball in the winter, high jumps in the spring, and can go the distance with the football in the fall.
Outside of Johnson, Mifflin quarterbacks of recent vintage have mostly been game-managers. Their job is to read the defense, make a split-second decision at the line of scrimmage, then get the ball into the right hands – the fullback or one of the slotbacks – and let them make plays.
The fullback – guys such as Nick Singleton, Isaac Ruoss, or more recently Grady Garner – has traditionally been the lead horse in the Mustangs’ offense. Not this season.
“We’re gonna set things up to have Lebron have the ball as much as we can,” Morrissey said. “Last year, even when he was in the Wing and Slot, he ran sweep better than any kid we had. He naturally is our most gifted kid. He’s not a pocket quarterback. We want him out of the pocket: Run first, pass second.”
Leaf could become the first Mifflin quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards since Jan Johnson in 2014 and just the third overall (Brad Rhoads was the first, in 2006). No QB has ever led the Mustangs in rushing for an entire season; Leaf could break new ground.
“I’m gonna bring a running style to quarterback,” he said. “That’s how we play football here. I feel like I’m that guy for my team.”
The Mustangs dominated Section 1 of the Berks Football League for years on the strength of their running game and that aspect will carry them again. Leaf, though, doesn’t want to be seen as a one-dimensional quarterback.
“I can do it with my legs and I can throw it,” he said. “I want people to underestimate my arm. If they keep pushing up on me I’ve got the ability to do both.”
Leaf showed his true grit last year by staying on the field after his Week 3 injury. He was the most aggressive defender on the field and never backed off, much as it pained him.
“It was a struggle,” he admits. “Defensively, (the shoulder injury) hindered me. Hitting was definitely a difficultly. I just had to be persistent, keep pushing through it.”
He got through it on offense by making people miss; he became pretty good at that on his way to a series of long runs and seven touchdowns.
“(I figured) if I don’t get hit, I don’t got a problem,” he said. “That was my goal: just don’t get hit.”
He has loftier ambitions now.
“Injuries and other circumstances put me in a different position (than quarterback),” he said of his junior season, “but this year I’m ready to step up and be that guy for the team. Hopefully I can lead us to a lot of victories.”
