It has been a long road for Indianapolis Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard, who continues to work his way back from an injury that has kept him off the field for the better part of the last calendar year.
Despite missing all of the spring workouts, Leonard has been taking a surprising amount of work with the starting defense during training camp. Through the first week and a half of camp, Leonard hasn’t participated in the team portion of the fully-padded practices.
That changed Saturday evening, marking the first time The Maniac was involved in full contact, which is the next step on his road to recovery.
“It feels amazing, especially being away from contact for a long time. Easing it back in and then now I’m just going out and taking the fear out of making contact,” Leonard told the media Saturday. “It felt amazing to get back out there and make some contact.”
Some may scoff or raise concern about Leonard’s remark about overcoming the fear of making contact. As a linebacker, there can’t be any fear of driving straight into a collision.
But any athlete will agree, there’s a certain point of the recovery where the focus shifts more toward the mental side rather than the physical. Leonard has been away from contact for so long that it’s only natural to wonder what that feeling will be like again.
This is only compounded by the fact that Leonard was dealing with complications from a nerve in his back. Those injuries are typically unpredictable, especially when it comes to the game of football.
But Leonard is making progress on that front, and Saturday’s practice was seemingly the final step.
“Just take it slow. Today was the first time I got full contact with the team reps. That was the last step so hopefully now I just continue to build off that,” Leonard said.
The Colts defense is better when Leonard is on the field. Not only does his talent boost everyone around him, but the entire roster also feeds off the energy he brings on a daily basis.
How Leonard feels after his first day of contact will be telling in terms of his recovery, but this is another encouraging step on the road to seeing The Maniac on the field again.