After sitting out an entire football season, Leo Etienne is eager to get back on the field.
Just don’t expect the former Kansas University linebacker to do any cartwheels.
“I’m humble. I’m thankful for the opportunity that I have another chance to play,” said Etienne, who recently signed a one-year contract with Montreal of the Canadian Football League. “My family and friends are really excited for me. My dad said, ‘You don’t seem happy.’ I am happy. I waited a year for this opportunity. There’s no reason for me to be antsy and jumping up and down. I’ve been patient this long. I can be patient a little bit longer. I have to stay humble. As long as I’m humble, I’m hungry.”
Etienne was KU’s second-leading tackler in 2001 and ’02, but at 6-foot and 218 pounds, the Jayhawks’ co-captain was considered too small by NFL standards. Not only was he not taken in the 2003 draft, but also he had no free-agent offers and wasn’t even invited to camps.
“I didn’t go into depression,” Etienne told the Journal-World. “I just questioned why. Monday’s the biggest day after the draft for free-agent signings. Come Wednesday, I still didn’t have anything. I thought I gave my all at Kansas. I just questioned why. I know the league’s not for everybody, but I thought I deserved a chance to prove myself. I didn’t let that bring me down. It’s like I was in this giant hole I had to dig out of. I’ve been digging and digging. I see the light, but there’s a lot more digging to do.”
Denied a shot at professional football, the Auburndale, Fla., native returned to his home state and accepted an internship with Florida Citrus Sports — the organization that plays host to the Capital One and Tangerine bowls and the Gridiron Classic all-star game.
“I took the opportunity to learn the business side of sports,” he said. “It was a learning experience for me to be involved like I was behind he scenes.”
Etienne was working with the Tangerine Bowl in December when the Jayhawks played North Carolina State.
“It was real hard being around football every day and recruiting football players for the all-star games,” Etienne said. “It was hard at times, especially when Kansas came down. That’s when I really missed being out there. I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get there.’ That pushed me even harder. I worked out religiously.”
Etienne, a childhood friend of Orlando Magic All-Star Tracy McGrady, has lived and trained with McGrady at times since returning home.
“I patterned everything after what I saw Tracy doing,” Etienne said. “I work hard, but seeing somebody at that level where I wanted to be, I knew I had to up it. When I got off work I would go directly to the gym and run just in case I had an opportunity.”
Etienne’s agent fielded a few calls from Arena League teams, but the linebacker wasn’t interested in that opportunity.
“I didn’t want to go that route,” he said. “I wanted to play on a 100-yard field. Not to knock Arena League, but I was determined to play on a regulation field to give myself an opportunity to make it to the NFL. … I thought I would have a better chance of making it to the next level if I went to Canada or Europe. Most guys that come out of the Arena League are skill guys — quarterbacks, receivers or defensive backs.”
Etienne finally got his chance in March. He worked out for Edmonton at Atlanta and had another workout with Montreal in Tampa, Fla.
“I had great workouts for both teams,” he said. “They had good things to say. It was just a matter of waiting.”
Etienne signed with the Montreal Alouettes a few weeks later. He reports to three-day rookie camp May 16. Etienne’s internship, which was set up by the Big 12 Conference, was supposed to run through June 1, but his last day will be April 30 instead.
“I told them from the start my ultimate goal was to play in the league,” Etienne said. “I had to get that out of me before I said I was done, and I was far from done. They told me they would never hold me back from my dream. They were going to support me.”
Etienne’s next test — other than making the team — will be learning the language in Quebec.
“I don’t know any French,” he said. “There are people up there that speak Creole, and I have Creole background because my parents are Haitian. I’m fluent in Creole, but as far as French, I’ll have to learn enough to get by.”
