.jpg) Fournette with the Buccaneers in 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born: | January 18, 1995 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 228 lb (103 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | St. Augustine (New Orleans) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | LSU (2014–2016) | ||||||||||||||
| Position: | Running back | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2017 / round: 1 / pick: 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Leonard Joseph Fournette III (born January 18, 1995) is an American professional football running back who is a free agent. He played college football for the LSU Tigers, and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft.
Fournette had near-unprecedented hype headed into college in 2014 after an outstanding career at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He won the 2013 USA Today High School Football Offensive Player of the Year and was named the top-ranked recruit in 2014 senior class according to ESPN, 247Sports.com, and CBS Sports.[1] At LSU, he was a consensus All-America selection following his sophomore season in 2015, after setting school single-season records with 1,953 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns, and leading the country with 162.8 rushing yards per game. Various experts regarded him as the best player in college football.[2][3]
Upon being drafted by the Jaguars, Fournette had immediate success, including rushing for over 1,000 yards in his rookie season. However, he struggled with several injuries and suspensions and as a result, his relationship with the franchise soured, eventually leading to his release after just three seasons with the team. He then signed with the Buccaneers, with whom he played a large part in winning Super Bowl LV over the Kansas City Chiefs. He was the team's primary starter for most of the 2021 season, but a late-season injury kept him out of the last 3 games of the regular season, as well as part of the playoffs.
- ^ Yellin, Lyons (April 18, 2013). "ESPN names St. Augustine's Leonard Fournette nation's No. 1 recruit". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ Roser, Jerit (September 30, 2015). "Herschel Walker: Leonard Fournette 'is better than I was'". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ Maisel, Ivan (October 7, 2015). "Leonard Fournette: The best kind of different". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016.