(S24) - PT 4 - Trial by Fire

[ReverendOReily]

The thing about growing up in a swamp is, there's not a lot of other kids, let alone other kids who like football. It's mostly just gators and bugs and ferns. However, lucky for Richard Leaking, this swamp was in the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and nobody loves football like southerners. As a child and teenager, Richard Leaking had to walk miles through waist deep bog water to get to the nearest football field. This all changed when Leaking visited Stanford University; Stanford had had its eye on Leaking for quite some time after witnessing his standout play at Baton Rouge High School (some would say he tackled ball carriers as if he were wrestling swamp gators.) Richard Leaking had a consistent and solid career at Stanford, but wasn't necessarily touted as a top DSFL prospect. Since being drafted, Leaking has continued to step up to the plate and instill fear in opposing offenses. In his very first appearance for the Dallas Birddogs, during a preseason bout with the Minnesota Grey Ducks, Leaking forced a fumble and sacked the waterfowl quarterback once. During his actual debut performance in the regular season against the Tijuana Luchadores, Leaking had a fairly average/underwhelming performance, recording 7 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss. Since then, however, Leaking has rebounded quite well and has had a few standout performances. One such performance was the week 5 game against the Grey Ducks in which he registered 11 tackles, a sack, and 3 passes mightily smacked out of the air. Leaking credits his pass deflecting abilities to the childhood years he spent "swatting swamp skeeters."

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