Player Dossier

2008-2010

Illinois

Mikel Leshoure

RB • 6'0" • Champaign, IL, USA

Workhorse runnerSteady chain mover

Mikel Leshoure leans workhorse runner traits and 61.4 efficiency.

Usage / Role

14%

Rotational offensive role

lowfeatured

Impact Production

20

Developing production for a back

lowelite

Reliability

5

Sporadic game-to-game production

lowhigh

Star Power

36

Limited ceiling signals so far

limitedstar

Career Arc

Value trend by season

Best season by Season Value: 2010 Postseason · Illinois

08091010

Snapshot

Career Teams
1
Unique Seasons
3
Program Path
Illinois
Peak Game
Peak game by takeover score: Northwestern

Player Story

Mikel Leshoure built his college career from 2008 through 2010 as a running back from Champaign, IL wearing No. 5, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Mikel Leshoure's career was his backfield work:...

Read the story
3★

Recruit Profile

Class 2008 · Rating 0.8778

Unknown · Nashville, TN

Committed To
Illinois
Commit Date
Jan 1, 2008

NFL Draft

Draft Year
2011
Selection
Round 2 · Pick 25
Overall
No. 57
NFL Team
Detroit Lions

Mikel Leshoure, RB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2010 Postseason · Illinois. Mikel Leshoure leans workhorse runner traits and 61.4 efficiency.

Stat Footprint

Career production snapshot

Scrimmage yards
2,996
Rushing yards
2,557
Receiving yards
439
Touchdowns
28
Mikel Leshoure Illinois Highlights video thumbnail

Featured Highlight

Watch Mikel Leshoure on film

Mikel Leshoure Illinois Highlights

2010 · Illinois · Player Highlight

Mikel Leshoure college highlights at Illinois.

Season
2010
Type
Player highlight

Quick Answers

Mikel Leshoure quick answers

Latest team and position
Illinois · RB
Career Scrimmage Yards
2,996
Tracked sample
3 unique seasons · 4 entries · 31 games
Best season
2010 Postseason · Illinois
Top game
Northwestern
Recruit profile
3-star · Unknown · Illinois
High school pipeline
Unknown · 10 FBS recruits · 1 drafted player
NFL Draft
2011 · Round 2 · Pick 25 · Detroit Lions
Latest roster
No. 5 · Class 2010
2010 Scrimmage yards rank
1,893 scrimmage yards · RB 1st (top 1%) · Big Ten 1st (top 1%) · National 1st (top 1%)

Season Ledger

Crawlable season-by-season stats

SeasonTeamGamesScrimmageRush YdsRec YdsTDOverall
2008 Regular SeasonIllinois819212666132.9
2009 Regular SeasonIllinois10911734177758.7
2010 PostseasonIllinois1320518421382.3
2010 Regular SeasonIllinois131,6881,5131751782.3

Related Context

Mikel Leshoure played RB for Illinois. Across 3 tracked seasons, Mikel Leshoure recorded 2,557 rushing yards, 439 receiving yards, and 28 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2010 with Illinois.

Player insights

Lead takeaway

Best season by value score: 2010 Postseason

Illinois paired 1,893 primary output with 61.4 efficiency.

Supporting note

2008 Regular Season role shape

backfield-heavy usage with 47.2 efficiency.

Supporting note

Career value stayed steady

2010 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.

Supporting note

Peak game by takeover score: Penn State

Loss with 49 yards from scrimmage and efficient touch value. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.

Analysis workspace

Season Workbench

Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.

Season Explorer

Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.

2008 Regular Season · Illinois

Games

8

Scrimmage Yards / G

24

Efficiency

47.2

Usage

9

Consistency

48.8

Best Game by takeover score

Penn State

Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.

Active game

Hover over a point

Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.

Game-by-Game Trend

Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.

12345678

Chronological game order.

Game by game trend chart. Eastern Illinois: 49. Louisiana: 30. Penn State: 49. Michigan: 2. Minnesota: 6. Indiana: 7. Wisconsin: 7. Iowa: 42

Volume vs Efficiency

Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.

Low volumeHigh quality

High volumeHigh quality

Low volumeLower quality

High volumeLower quality

Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.

Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Eastern Illinois: 10 by 51. Louisiana: 9 by 30.3. Penn State: 5 by 88.8. Michigan: 4 by 5.2. Minnesota: 3 by 20.8. Indiana: 1 by 72.9. Wisconsin: 1 by 72.9. Iowa: 8 by 35.6

Split Comparison

Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.

Wins26 · Games = 5 · +5.3 vs Losses
Losses20.7 · Games = 3 · -5.3 vs Wins

Game Log

Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.

8 games

Featured metric

Scrimmage Yards

Top game by takeover score

Penn State

Best efficiency game

88.8 vs Penn State

Result
Sat 11/1vs IowaW 27-245112.2003315.3
Sat 10/25@ WisconsinL 17-2717707
Sun 10/19vs IndianaW 55-1317707
Sat 10/11vs MinnesotaL 20-2736202
Sat 10/4@ MichiganW 45-20420.5010.5
Sun 9/28@ Penn StateL 24-383237.7002269.8
Sat 9/13vs LouisianaW 20-178212.600193.3
Sat 9/6vs Eastern IllinoisW 47-2110494.9004.9

Player Story

Mikel Leshoure story

Mikel Leshoure built his college career from 2008 through 2010 as a running back from Champaign, IL wearing No. 5, spending time with Illinois. The clearest part of Mikel Leshoure's career was his backfield work: 2,557 rushing yards, 424 carries, 23 rushing touchdowns, and 439 receiving yards across 31 career games in the available record. His career also includes 439 receiving yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. That gives Mikel Leshoure's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.

Career Arc

Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.

  1. 1

    Illinois

    2008-2010

    Opening stop

Season Value Progression

2008200920102010
SeasonTeamPrimaryEfficiencyUsageDelta
2008 Regular SeasonIllinois19247.29
2009 Regular SeasonIllinois9116521.1719
2010 PostseasonIllinois1,89361.438.2982
2010 Regular SeasonIllinois1,89361.438.20

Signature Performances

Top Games

#1 Featured game

@ Northwestern

Week 12 · W 48-27 · Conference game

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

341

Scrimmage Yards

97.3 takeover

341 scrimmage yards and 44.7 usage.

#2

vs Fresno State

Week 14 · L 52-53

206

Scrimmage Yards

86.4 takeover

Loss with 206 yards from scrimmage and efficient touch value.

206 scrimmage yards and 20.7 usage.

#3

vs Michigan

Week 9 · W 38-13 · Conference game

164

Scrimmage Yards

84.5 takeover

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

164 scrimmage yards and 34.4 usage.

#4

vs Northern Illinois

Week 3 · W 28-22

186

Scrimmage Yards

77.5 takeover

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

186 scrimmage yards and 44.6 usage.

#5

@ Baylor

Week 1 · W 38-14 · Postseason

205

Scrimmage Yards

75.8 takeover

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

205 scrimmage yards and 45.6 usage.

Top Seasons

#1 Season by Season Value

2010 Postseason · Illinois

1,893 primary output · 61.4 efficiency · 38.2 usage

82.3

#2

2010 Regular Season · Illinois

82.3

1,893 primary · 61.4 efficiency · 38.2 usage

#3

2009 Regular Season · Illinois

58.7

911 primary · 65 efficiency · 21.1 usage

Milestones

12

100+ rush yards

8

150+ scrimmage yards

8

2+ TD games