Leonard Fournette

Early years

Raised in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, Fournette attended St. Augustine High School, where he competed in football and track. His 200 metres regional mark of 21.57 seconds is fastest in 4A, and his 10.68 in the 100 metres is only .02 off the best time. He also competed in the 4 × 100 metres relay and 4 × 200 metres relay. On the varsity football team, he was a starter since his freshman year and compiled 7,619 rushing yards and 88 rushing touchdowns for his career. He rushed for more than 2,500 yards and 30 touchdowns his freshman season, and became the first-ever freshman to earn a scholarship offer from Louisiana State. His sophomore year ended with 1,900 yards rushing and 27 touchdowns. As a junior, he registered 2,135 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns, and was an LFCA Class 4A First-Team All-State honoree. In his senior year, Fournette ran for 1,792 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 45 receptions for 745 yards and six scores. Early in the season, he had a heralded performance with two touchdowns and 262 yards rushing against Malachi Dupre's John Curtis Christian, which was nationally televised by ESPN2. St. Augustine ended the season with a 9–2 record and an appearance in the LHSAA Division I semifinal game, where they were upset 31–28 by Archbishop Rummel High School. Fournette was named Louisiana's 2013 Mr. Football by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, and also was selected as an All-American by Parade and USA Today, as well as USA Today Offensive Player of the Year, the first from Louisiana since Ryan Perrilloux in 2004. After the season, Fournette participated in the Under Armour All-America Game where he caught a 36-yard touchdown pass and rushed for 43 yards on nine carries.

Unanimously regarded as the best running back prospect of his class, Fournette was one of the most highly recruited players ever to come out of Louisiana. ESPN ranked him as the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2014, as did Scout.com. At the 2014 Under Armour All-America Game, Fournette announced his decision to attend Louisiana State University (LSU).

Freshman season

Fournette's college career was preceded by very high expectations and hype, and he was often called "the next Adrian Peterson". In his collegiate debut against the Wisconsin Badgers on August 30, 2014, Fournette ran for 18 yards on eight carries. After the game, LSU head coach Les Miles downplayed the Fournette hype. "First games are not to be comparable to his 30th game," said Miles. "Expectations are unrealistic." In his second game, against the Sam Houston State Bearkats, Fournette rushed for 92 yards on 13 attempts and scored his first collegiate rushing touchdown. In the fifth week of the season, the New Mexico State Aggies traveled to Death Valley to face the #17 LSU Tigers, and Fournette ran for 122 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns. This effort put Fournette at the top of the Tigers' rushing list for the season. On October 11 against SEC rival Florida, Fournette rushed the ball 27 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns to help LSU secure a 30–27 last-second win in The Swamp. Against undefeated and #3 Ole Miss, who led the nation in stopping the run, Fournette shook off an early goal line fumble and rushed 23 times for 113 yards to go along with two receptions for 41 yards. LSU ran the ball 12 times for 92 yards on a 13-play, 95-yard touchdown drive to upset the Rebels by a score of 10–7 in Death Valley. Fournette finished the season against Notre Dame in the 2014 Music City Bowl with 11 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, he had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the loss to the Fighting Irish.

Sophomore season

Fournette rushed for a career-high 244 yards and two touchdowns against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, six yards shy of tying Alley Broussard's LSU school record of 250 yards against Ole Miss in 2004. Fournette had an 87-yard touchdown run nullified by an illegal formation call late in the game. The following week, against Eastern Michigan, Fournette rushed for 233 yards, becoming the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history to rush for 200 or more yards in three straight games. Against Western Kentucky, Fournette ran for 150 yards, his ninth consecutive 100+ yards rushing game, a streak that dated back to the Texas A&M game in late November 2014. He tied an LSU school record originally established by Charles Alexander in 1978. Fournette's streak ended the very next game against Alabama, the nation's best rushing defense, at Bryant–Denny Stadium. He was held to 31 yards on 19 attempts, as the Crimson Tide handed LSU its first loss of the season. In the 2015 Texas Bowl, Fournette ran for 212 yards and scored five total touchdowns as the Tigers beat Texas Tech, 56–27.

In his sophomore season, Fournette set school records with 1,953 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. With an average of 162.8 rushing yards per game, he won the NCAA rushing title, awarded to the player with the highest rushing yards per game average each season. He finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting, earning 110 points. He earned consensus All-America honors as he was named to the first team by three official selectors: the Associated Press (AP), the Walter Camp Football Foundation, and the Football Writers Association of America. SEC coaches, the Associated Press, and ESPN.com each named Fournette to their All-SEC first team.

Junior season

Entering his junior season, Fournette was expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and was one of the preseason favorites to win the award. During a scrimmage game prior to the 2016 season, Fournette sustained a high ankle sprain, but was well enough to return for the season opener against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Late in the game against Wisconsin, he bruised the same ankle and missed the next week's game against Jacksonville State as a result. He re-injured it against SEC West rival Auburn on September 24 in a 101-yard rushing effort, causing him to miss the next two games. On October 22, his first game back, Fournette rushed for 284 yards and three touchdowns against Ole Miss to set a new single-game school record for rushing yards. His school record was surpassed later in the season by Derrius Guice by one yard. With his ankle still not fully healed, Fournette was not expected to play against Florida on November 19, and did not suit up for pregame warm-ups. However, after a pregame scuffle between the teams in which Fournette shoved a Florida assistant coach, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron granted him permission to play. Still visibly bothered by the injury, he managed only 40 yards on 12 carries and did not play in the fourth quarter. Due to the injury, he did not travel with the team to College Station to face Texas A&M for the final game of the season. He finished his junior season having carried 129 times for 843 yards and eight touchdowns in seven games.

On December 5, 2016, Fournette announced his intention to enter the 2017 NFL Draft. To avoid injury, his coach told him to skip the 2016 Citrus Bowl, which LSU won over Louisville. Fournette finished his college career having rushed for 3,830 yards, the fourth-most by a player in LSU history behind Charles Alexander, Dalton Hilliard, and Kevin Faulk. His 40 rushing touchdowns are tied for third most in school history with Alexander and behind Hilliard and Faulk.

College statistics

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Professional career

Coming out of college, Fournette was highly touted as a top ten pick in the upcoming draft and was ranked as the third best prospect going into the NFL Combine. He arrived at the NFL combine weighing in at five pounds heavier than his playing weight in college and opted to only participate in the vertical and 40-yard dash. At LSU's Pro Day, he opted to only partake in positional drills. He was ranked the top overall running back prospect by NFLDraftScout.com, but was ranked the second best running back behind Florida State's Dalvin Cook by Pro Football Focus and Sports Illustrated.

Fournette was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round with the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the first running back taken in that year's draft. On May 17, 2017, Fournette signed a four-year contract with the Jaguars worth $27 million with a $18 million signing bonus.

Fournette played his first regular season game on September 10, 2017 against the Houston Texans. Fournette performed well by rushing for 100 yards on 26 carries as the Jaguars won by a score of 29–7. He rushed for his first career touchdown, which was a one-yard rush, in the second quarter.