Packer: Leaverton tackled future with Warrick hit

It was the second quarter of the National Championship game against Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 4, 1999. Tennessee was leading 14-6 when David Leaverton let a punt go into the Tempe, Ariz., night. Running under the punt was All-American Peter Warrick. The speedster broke through the first and second wave of defenders and faced only one Vol between him and the end zone. That defender was Leaverton.

“That was the defining moment of my career,” Leaverton said. “We ended up winning the game by seven points, and on that play I guess you could say that I saved seven points.”

Leaverton didn’t do what most punters do when they’re in that situation. He didn’t dive for the punt return man’s legs and hang on for dear life until help arrived. Leaverton laid into Warrick like Al Wilson was doing to Florida State running backs.

“I laugh to teammates to this day about how I made that tackle,” he said. “Not many people know it, but in one split second I released everything I had built up inside me on that tackle. The tackle meant redemption for me.”

What had built up in Leaverton was the downside of being a football player at the University of Tennessee.

“You really can’t enjoy the Tennessee experience when you’re a player,” Leaverton said. “It’s not until after that you can appreciate what playing in that uniform in Neyland Stadium is really all about. It was an unbelievable amount of pressure when I was a Vol.”

That pressure got to Leaverton early in his career. His first snap, against Texas Tech in 1997, went right through his hands. The next week against UCLA, a series of miscues and botched punts almost cost Tennessee a win. What it did cost Leaverton was his job and his pride.

“I wanted to quit,” he said. “If it wasn’t for my family, my friends and my pastor I would have left Knoxville. Looking back, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Life is a lesson in perseverance. Because of my experiences at UT I’ve learned that I can handle anything off the field that comes my way. A new job, the loss of a loved one, a move to a new town, I can now handle anything in life because I know that the Lord will take care of me, no matter what. I know now, that it will all work out for the best.”

For Leaverton, his perseverance has landed him a job with U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. The road into politics started when Leaverton was bouncing around from one NFL team to another.

“I don’t know many people that can say that got fired six times before they were 25,” Leaverton said. “Of course, then again, I don’t know many people who signed six NFL contracts before they were 25 either. The last team I signed with was the Washington Redskins. They paid for my place to live while I worked on getting a job in the Bush administration.”

While the NFL career came to an en end, the new career path began. Today, Leaverton is the East Tennessee field director for the Corker administration. “I represent a 15-county area of East Tennessee,” Leaverton said. “Since he can’t be in 95 counties, while he’s working in Washington, he needs help. My job is to work with local mayors and city and county leaders to know what the people are saying.

“A lot of the time I’m out of my office listening to the people of Tennessee. I talk to Sen. Corker every couple of weeks and let him know the pulse of the people. I set up meetings for him when he’s in my area and prepare him for those meetings. I love what I’m doing right now. I don’t know that I want to be a mayor or governor because I love being a support person rather than having all the pressure on me.

“I’ve been to Washington to see my boss work, and that interests me zero percent. I don’t miss being under the microscope like the players are at Tennessee one bit. God has blessed me with a great job and the best wife in the world. I got married just two and a half months ago and am having a ball.

“I wouldn’t trade all my trials and tribulations at UT for anything in the world. I went from being the freshman scapegoat to being a team captain my senior year. That pretty much says it all. Punters and kickers aren’t team captains. Typically they’re considered outsiders because they don’t practice with the team. For my teammates to vote me a team captain was awesome. I became a man at the University of Tennessee. Last week I went to the UT game against Vanderbilt with my wife and parents and had a ball. I’m loving Tennessee football more now than I ever have in my life.”

Mark Packer hosts the Locker Room, presented by Parkwest Medical Center, on Sunday at 10 p.m. on MyVLT2.