Former Adelaide plumber Matt Leo joins NFL club Philadelphia Eagles, five years after leaving SA to enter US college football ranks
Matt Leo used to hit the gym at 3am before working as a plumber on Adelaide construction sites. Now the ex-rugby league player, also touted as a potential AFL draftee, is realising his American football dream.
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Matt Leo used to hit the gym at 3am before working as a plumber on Adelaide construction sites, then return for an evening weights session in the pursuit of his unlikely dream.
Now the former rugby league player, who was also touted as a potential AFL draftee, is on the cusp of becoming the first South Australian to crack American football’s big time.
Leo, 27, was assigned to Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday, as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.
It comes just five years after the former Semaphore resident quit his plumbing apprenticeship, sold his car and bought a one-way ticket to the US, despite having no gridiron experience.
Leo’s former boss, Luca Falcone, said he demonstrated a rare drive to succeed, working on projects like the Adelaide Oval upgrade, Torrens footbridge and new Royal Adelaide Hospital.
“He was a machine,” recalled Falcone, construction manager at Hindmarsh Plumbing during Leo’s three and a half years with the company.
“We remember him rocking up to work at 5.30am and he was one of the first guys on site, because he’d already been to the gym at 3am.
“Then he’d go straight back to the gym after work.
“Dedication, you saw it every day with Matt and he just took everything on as if it was the last day.
“It (American football) was more a sport that he had learned from a text book.
“Our understanding was he had no knowledge of the sport and didn’t even know the rules.
“But to see how well he’s developed and how quickly he’s picked it up, it’s amazing.
“He was always a very humble and very, very respectful guy. Everyone loved him.”
Leo will join the Eagles’ pre-season training camp in July, coronavirus restrictions permitting.
It will complete a remarkable rise for the 201cm, 125kg giant, who has impressed as a defensive end for college football powerhouse Iowa State for the past three campaigns.
The strength, speed and hunger to learn that have caught the eye of NFL recruiters were on show at amateur Aussie rules side Port District more than a decade earlier.
Leo, also a local rugby participant, lined up in the Magpies’ inaugural under-18 team, which failed to win a game during his sole season playing footy in 2008.
But coach Richard Foster remembered a unique talent with immense promise.
“We were basically grabbing a lot of kids off the street,” said Foster, who used Leo in the ruck as well as at centre-half forward and centre-half back.
“Matt came along to us and we thought we were in luck, because he was a big boy with a fantastic build.
“I don’t think he’d ever picked up an Aussie rules ball before.
“But he was definitely a natural athlete and someone you would walk down the street and go ‘wow, he’s a specimen’.
“The assistant coach and I were saying ‘we’ll get this kid drafted one day to an AFL team’.
“He probably had that much potential.
“I knew he would go on to do some sort of sport at an elite level. Good luck to him.”
The former St Michael’s College student was inspired by the story of fellow Australian Jesse Williams, who made it to the NFL and won a Superbowl ring via Arizona Western College.
Leo reached out to the same school after completing an American football combine in Sydney in 2015.
He landed at the junior college near the Mexican border eight months on from leaving the building site and was picked up by Iowa two years later.
Leo has shone for the Cyclones in front of regular 60,000-plus home crowds in the Big 12 Conference.
His 33 total tackles and three sacks in 30 NCAA division one matches earned him a place on this year’s international player camp at the IMG Academy in Florida.
The program, reduced to seven weeks due to COVID-19, puts non-US or Canadian prospects through 12-hour days of gruelling workouts and intense film study.
It had previously guided NRL star Valentine Holmes to New York Jets’ practice squad and helped ex-South Sydney Rabbitohs junior Jordan Mailata get drafted, also by Philadelphia.
Leo has used the platform to become the third Aussie at the Eagles, where punter Cameron Johnston is also on the books.
“Words can never describe the feeling,” Leo told the club’s website after signing.
“Honestly, the feeling that comes to mind is tears.
“I could never thank the people enough that helped me get here as well.
“I was just one person that was willing to persevere and chase for this dream.
“Never wanted to accept, ‘no’ or, ‘not good enough.’”
Leo, who finished his liberal studies degree last year, will be eligible to play pre-season games for the Eagles.
But he is likely to join the club’s practice squad after that, unless he is added to its regular season roster.
He will bid to become just the 16th Australian to play in the NFL.
None have previously hailed from SA.