When people watch senior athlete Jalen Leonard-Osbourne, whether it is on the football field or running track, they see a national champion who has won numerous other awards. With the help of his strength and conditioning coach and a fellow teammate on a similar path, Leonard-Osbourne sets his sights on the NFL after five prolific years at Ithaca College.
As running back for the football team, Leonard-Osbourne finished his career as a Bomber with 2,463 rushing yards and 969 receiving yards. He won awards like Liberty League Honor Roll, D3football.com Fourth Team All-American, Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year, Liberty League First Team and D3football.com Third Team Preseason All-American, among others.
As an IC track and field athlete, Leonard-Osbourne was a NCAA Champion in the 60-meter dash and set the school records for the 60-meter and 100-meter dash. Leonard-Osbourne elected not to do track and field this semester to focus on his training for the NFL.
Donte Garcia ’23, assistant strength and conditioning coach and Leonard-Osbourne’s former teammate said he has always had a close bond with the superstar running back and now has the opportunity to help him reach new heights.
“My favorite part about working with Jalen is seeing him transform into the best version of himself,” Garcia said. “He is maturing; he was already a teammate of mine, so we already had a good relationship. But now, as his coach, taking a back seat position as his friend and really focusing on getting him to where he needs to be, and just seeing his character development has been awesome.”
Senior defensive back Jake Connolly, Leonard-Osbourne’s teammate and good friend, has been working closely with him because he is also an NFL hopeful.
“He’s a dog,” Leonard-Osbourne said. “He’s always been a dog, and just seeing the way he works, the way he just gets that extra work in. He doesn’t want anybody to outwork him. I would just say, being around him, being in his presence just makes me overall a better athlete, a better person and a better competitor. He pushes me to my limits and unlocks a new potential.”
Garcia is training individual athletes for the professional level for the first time. He said he is honored to be doing this for people he has known for a while, but he feels a ton of pressure because he needs to make sure both Connolly and Leonard-Osbourne are the best versions of themselves when it matters the most.
“It feels like a dream come true,” Garcia said. “And at the same time, I’m nervous. I’m nervous because I’m a young coach. I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know. With that being said, you’ll never know if it’s gonna be enough. … It’s a guessing game. It’s never gonna be perfect; you never know how things will end up.”
Head coach Michael Toerper said he is fascinated by how Leonard-Osbourne handles adversity and credits everything he has had to overcome.
“He’s a guy that’s been able to handle it well,” Toerper said. “He’s got the tools to do so, and he’s had to overcome adversity in the past. The best way of being good at handling adversity is by experiencing adversity and getting through the other side of it, and he’s certainly done that.”
In Leonard-Osbourne’s final season as running back for the Bombers he racked up 858 rushing yards and ten touchdowns, which was second in the Liberty League in both statistics.
Leonard-Osbourne is not the only Bombers football player who set their sights on the NFL while playing in college. After his standout season last year, the Indianapolis Colts signed IC football alumni Derek Slywka ‘23, who now plays for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
A notable aspect of Leonard–Osbourne’s career is that he comes from a Division III football program. The question is whether he can jump from Division III to the NFL, but Leonard-Osbourne’s heart, tenacity and abilities say he can.
“Honestly, I never really let that get to me,” Leonard-Osbourne said. “I don’t feel like any of that matters. If you’re a baller they’ll come and find you, as you can see they came and found me. I just want to thank God. I’m blessed to have these opportunities, and scouts come to my practices. I worked my butt off these past four years, and it finally paid off.”
As a strength and conditioning coach, Garcia understands the pressure of developing two Division III athletes to be on par with those from Division I schools. He also said a huge factor in both Connolly and Leonard-Osbourne’s development depends on the decisions they have to make every day.
“A lot of it comes down to the athlete,” Garcia said. “It comes down to the athlete staying on top of their nutrition, staying on top of their recovery, their sleep. There’s just so many things, especially when you’re preparing an athlete at the Division III level to compete with genetic superhumans at the highest level. Everything has to be as close to perfect as possible, including what they’re doing behind closed doors.”
When people read about NFL prospects, they tend to look for an NFL comparison to match their work to a familiar face. Toerper compared Leonard-Osbourne’s style of play to Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin and former NFL wide receiver, Super Bowl champion Percy Harvin.
“I think you look at someone like Jaleel McLaughlin for the Denver Broncos,” Toerper said. “He’s a 5 ‘8 guy, weighs 190 pounds, runs a 4.40, broad jumps almost 10 feet. His stat lines are very comparable to [Leonard-Osbourne’s]. But Percy Harvin had that blazing speed that, once you get going, is hard to catch.”
As Leonard-Osbourne looks to achieve his NFL dreams, he has established a legacy as a dual sport athlete representing the Bombers. He said he wants to be remembered for his hard work and dedication while rocking the navy and white.
“[I want to be remembered as] someone resilient,” Leonard-Osbourne said. “Someone that just worked their butt off. … I just want to be remembered as a dual sport athlete who did really well in both sports.”
