Leeland McElroy

McElroy was born in Beaumont, Texas.^[1] He attended Central High School in Beaumont,^[2] and played high school football for the Beaumont Central Jaguars.

McElroy accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Texas A&M University, and played for the Aggies from 1992 to 1995.

In 1995, McElroy became the undisputed starter — his only year to start at running back at A&M. A&M was coming off a 10-0-1 season and top-10 ranking, with most of their starters returning for their upperclassmen years. Corey Pullig was a senior quarterback, McElroy was a Heisman Trophy candidate as a junior, and an experienced defense paved the way for Playboy and The Sporting News to rank A&M No. 1 in the preseason.

The Aggies began the season with impressive wins over LSU (in which McElroy ran for 229 yards, 5th in Aggie history for a single game) and Tulsa, and took a #3 ranking to Boulder to face the #5 Colorado with A&M mounting a "'Lectric Leeland" Heisman marketing campaign. McElroy played poorly and the Aggies lost a disappointing game. A&M tipped passes for interceptions, receiver Chris Sanders dropped a sure touchdown on a screen pass across a wide-open middle of the field, and future NFL fullback Detron Smith dropped a sure huge gain on a swing pass in the flat. Star linebacker Reggie Brown even blew a coverage at the end zone, giving up a circus-catch touchdown.

Another poor performance followed, along with another Aggie loss against Texas Tech in Lubbock the following week. McElroy rushed for 1,122 yards (112.2 per game) and 1709 all-purpose yards (2nd for a single season in Aggie history by just 30 yards) that season, but completely missed two games and sat out parts of others as a result of injuries. The Aggies finished 9-3 with a win against Michigan in the Alamo Bowl, but with those two losses as well as a home loss to rival Texas, the season that began with National Championship hopes was considered a disappointment by Aggie fans. For McElroy, the injuries, along with several less than spectacular performances against Colorado, Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston, turned a season that began with Heisman hopes into a fall filled with frustration.

After his junior season, McElroy declared early for the NFL draft. In spite of his spectacular junior year, injury concerns caused McElroy to drop in the draft. Although projected to be a first round pick, he instead holds the distinction of being the lowest picked player to attend the NFL draft. McElroy was selected in second round in 1996 by the Arizona Cardinals at number thirty-two. He has become somewhat of a cautionary tale against football players leaving school early. Aggie head Coach R. C. Slocum and others speculated that if McElroy had returned in 1996, he would have benefited from playing with a more prolific passer in Branndon Stewart and probably would have faced fewer eight-man defensive fronts. These factors along with the additional experience might have resulted in McElroy's Heisman hopes coming to fruition and his entering the draft a more seasoned, more complete back.

McElroy was a first-team selection on the Football Writers Association of America All-America team in 1994 and was a first-team Associated Press All-American all-purpose back in 1995. One of the fastest runners in college football history, McElroy set several NCAA records for kickoff returns in his career including most returns for a touchdown in one game and most returns for touchdowns in a single season. His final career average (36.3) set the NCAA record. He was a first-team selection on the Football Writers Association of America All-America team in 1994. He holds the Texas A&M record for average all-purpose yards per game with 135. He is also tied for the longest kickoff return in A&M history (100 yards, which he did twice).