National Football League

There's more to Leach than battering ram JUSTICE: Leach keeps mood light off field

Published Oct. 12, 2010 10:10 a.m. ET

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When the Texans are asked about fullback Vonta Leach, they don't begin by telling you he's as tough as any player they've ever known. He is, but that's not what comes to mind.

Nor do they say anything about his productivity, consistency or relentless effort. Oh, if you press them on that kind of thing, they'll get around to it.

In fact, they'll tell you he's an amazing player, as respected as any the Texans have. As the NFL has gotten increasingly complex, his job has remained simple.

He's a 255-pound battering ram, and his job is to crush the linebacker or pancake the cornerback, to throw his body at someone.

Sometimes, seeing him out there, shaking his head or his hands, it's like he's trying to make sure all the parts are still where they're supposed to be.

"Just watching the film, seeing him play after play, collision, collision, I don't know how he does it," Texans quarterback Matt Schaub said.

Or as defensive tackle Amobi Okoye said: "I wonder what he feels like on Monday morning after a game."

Leach touches the ball once or twice a game, perhaps as a reward for all the numbing hits he endures, for all those times he absorbs a blow to get his ball carrier another 3 yards.

He's the poster boy for what Gary Kubiak had in mind when he arrived and said he wanted a tougher team, a team defined by doing the most basic things in football - running the ball and stopping the run.

Arian Foster, the NFL's leading rusher, has done a phenomenal job. He's The Star of this team, an against-all-odds story.

But the Texans are also getting the kind of offensive line play they've never gotten before. And their fullback is a pretty darn good football player.

"He's unselfish, he's tough," Texans running backs coach Chick Harris said. "He's one of the guys that steps up for you. If we're playing a tough, nasty team, he's the guy you want in your foxhole."

That's all good stuff, and when we start our Pro Bowl campaign for him later this year, we'll remember every last word of it.

Except it's not the only thing that makes Leach special. It's not even the first thing that comes to mind when his teammates are asked about him.

They talk first about how he'll grab the microphone on team flights and announce, "This is your co-pilot Vonta Leach."

Or how he dashes into the daily 8 a.m. meeting at 7:58, sees the team staring at him and asks Kubiak, "Coach, what times does an 8 o'clock meeting start anyway?"

Or about this odd sound he constantly makes, a sound something like, "Geek, geek, geek." That sound has become some of the background music for this season because the Texans hear it in huddles, meetings, you name it.

Or how he showed up at practice last year on Halloween Day in a Spider-Man outfit.

Human 'Coke Machine'

Or how when the Texans began a Pro Bowl campaign for Owen Daniels with "Vote for OD" T-shirts two years ago, Leach walked in the next day with a handmade one that said, "Vote for me."

He takes his music with him. It's loud music. Yet Leach takes his boom box into the hot tub, onto the team plane and allows everyone to enjoy it.

In a game of pain and violence, a game where every defeat feels like death to the players and coaches who invest so much of themselves in it, Leach thinks it's OK to laugh a little.

"He's one of those guys you'll tell stories about later on in life," Texans center Chris Myers said. "You're in here every single day with 60-something other guys. If you can't keep it lighthearted, you're going to lose your mind."

If Leach plays a thankless position with a certain joy, it may be that his own journey hasn't always been smooth.

He played linebacker and running back at East Carolina before being shifted to fullback for his final two seasons. He was passed over in the 2004 draft and ended up being signed - and released - by the Packers and Saints before joining the Texans in 2006. It was Mike Sherman, then the Texans' offensive line coach and now Texas A&M's head coach, who urged Kubiak to give Leach a try.

"I've always had faith I could play at this level," Leach said. "I just needed the opportunity. Everybody wants to get drafted. The only difference between drafted guys and undrafted is the money you get up front. After that, it's about proving yourself."

His teammates call him "The Coke Machine" because of his compact frame and because his game is blasting into holes.

Key cog under the radar

"When we watch film as a group, I wonder what other teams must think when they're about to face Vonta," Okoye said. "They definitely have to get geared up. They know he's going to bring his 'A' game. ... He's the total package as a fullback."

He's the total package in a lot of ways, and in a season when so much has gone right for the Texans, he's one of the cogs that contributes on the field and off.

"He very rarely gets credit," Schaub said, "but we know what he means to our offense."

And to the locker room.

richard.justice@chron.com

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