Millbrook High wide receiver, Tennessee football commit building on family’s track roots

Imagine the ideal track and field athlete. He or she combines a sprinter’s fast-twitch muscles with a middle-distance runner’s aerobic endurance.

Explosion and endurance — a potent brew.

Millbrook High alumnus Dillon Leacock, a sophomore on the University of Houston track team, inherited the magical combination from his parents. Dillon’s explosion and endurance allowed him to win three prestigious 400-meter hurdle titles in the summer of 2021 — the USA Track and Field Junior championship, the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACACAA) title and the Oregon Nike Nationals in Eugene.

Hillary Leacock was an N.C. State men’s track team sprinter and high jumper in the early 1990s, and Beverley Leacock (née Harrington) was a middle-distance star the same years at Jackson State in Mississippi. They first met on youth track club teams in Trinidad and Tobago, the island nation in the Caribbean, before settling in Raleigh after college.

A matchmaking scientist might have viewed Hillary and Beverley as an ideal track coupling, but they simply wanted to start a family. Nathan, their second born, was following Dillon in the family business, posting national-caliber times on the USATF youth circuit.

But not even a diabolical scientist can’t alter the passion of the heart.

Nathan, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound wide receiver who can go up in traffic to bring down 50-50 balls, committed on July 22 to Tennessee among 23 scholarship offers.

“I was better at track when I was younger,” Nathan said, “but I’ve always loved football.”

Hillary and Beverley, with two more sons in school, encourage track, but they listen to their sons’ hearts. Brendon, a Millbrook sophomore, competes in basketball and track. Brian, a seventh grader, plays football and runs track.

“Brian is Nathan’s biggest critic,” said Hillary.

However, there isn’t much criticize. Nathan is off to a fast start in 2022 with 11 catches for 287 yards and four touchdowns in two games. He leads Millbrook (2-0), ranked No. 2 in the Triangle, into a 7:30 p.m. game Friday at Garner (0-2).

“Leacock is a tremendous athlete,” said Jimmy Vereen, Millbrook’s interim head coach. “I think he’s just scratched the surface of how good he can be. He’s fast and has good hands.”

Nathan may have won the genes lottery, but he is quick to point out his parents have passed on to him more than athleticism.

“Having two parents who know what it takes to compete at the college level has been really good for me,” he said. “Even though I’m playing a a different sport, my parents know about maintaining the body, the technical aspects and the academic side of college.”

Nathan finished his junior season with 38 catches for 735 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games, but this year he has stepped into the No. 1 role with the graduation of Wesley Grimes (87-1,594, 26 TDs), who is now a freshman at Wake Forest.

In Millbrook’s 2022 games, Nathan caught five passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns in the opener against Apex Friendship and six for 83 with two TDs last week against Enloe. His early production represents a jump from a year ago, when against the same opponents his two-game total was five receptions for 119 yards and two TDs.

“My focus in the offseason was developing my receiver skills,” Nathan said. “I’m working on my footwork, my route running and my ball skills. I want to catch the ball with my hands, not my body. I feel I can go up and get the ball.”

Although Leacock signed with Tennessee to play football, there is track serendipity with his choice.

In the late 1960s, Tennessee, along with Kentucky, were the two Southeastern Conference schools that led desegregation. Tennessee’s pioneer Black players included football/track athletes recruited by Chuck Rohe, the school’s football recruiting coordinator and track and field head coach. Richmond Flowers, who was white, was an All-American wide receiver and NCAA hurdles champion in his college career, 1966-68.

Rohe had pushed for desegregation until the school finally allowed him to sign wide receiver Lester McClain as its first Black football recruit in 1967 along with two Black track athletes. A year later, Andy Bennett was his first Black football/track two-sport recruit.

Hillary said Tennessee’s football coaching staff, understanding the family’s track background, pointed out Tennessee’s history of multi-sport athletes in football and track.

“But I think they were just patronizing me,” said Hillary, who didn’t pressure Nathan to attend his alma mater.

Doubling in football and track is a tougher task than in previous generations. Adding weight has become increasingly important in football. Leacock is listed at 195 pounds on his recruiting profile, but he says he has added another five pounds for his senior year. His focus is clear.

“I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of my potential,” Nathan said.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 5:50 AM.