Sports
QO's Leslie Follows Family Footsteps to College
The Quince Orchard defensive lineman verbally committed to play football at Monmouth University.
Gaithersburg native Darnell Leslie was born into an athletic family so it should come as no surprise that the Quince Orchard High School senior has accepted a scholarship to play college football next season at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Leslie’s father, Robert Bryant, played basketball at the now-defunct Mackin High School in the District of Columbia and the Quince Orchard standout had two uncles that played football at Bishop McNamara High School in Prince George’s County.
“He’s definitely encouraged me,” said Leslie. “He hasn’t forced me to play if I didn’t want to play.”
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Leslie, 17, has followed in his family’s footsteps and will take his game to the collegiate level when he signs a National Letter of Intent in February to play at Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school Monmouth of the Northeast Conference.
“He’s always been a self-motivator,” said Bryant. “You just need to point him in a direction and he does the rest.”
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Leslie began playing football at seven-years-old when he competed for South Germantown in the Capital Beltway League. He developed into a Division I prospect in high school and helped lead the Cougars to a 13-1 record including a regional title this past season.
Leslie also participated in the fourth annual Maryland Crab Bowl at Bowie State University on December 17th and registered a sack to help lead the Washington team to a 14-6 victory over Baltimore.
“It was really fun,” said Leslie, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound defensive lineman who earned first team All-County and honorable mention All-State honors. “I got to meet a lot of new people from around the county and the state.”
With his high school career behind him, Leslie is looking forward to embarking on the next phase of his career on the collegiate gridiron.
“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” said Leslie, who plans to major in software engineering. “It’s just the highest level other than the pros that everyone recognizes and wants to be a part of.”
The honor student boasts a 3.4 grade point average and earned the Cougar Award at the football team banquet this year. Leslie will join a long list of former Cougars to play on the college gridiron.
“I had a few more offers,” said Leslie, who also considered William & Mary and North Carolina Central, “but this was just the school that I thought was the right fit for me for the next four years.”