YSU’s Desmeal Leigh enjoying unique journey after late start
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- In the Doug Phillips era, Youngstown State has long described itself as being a "developmental program." Perhaps no player is a better product of that than fifth-year left tackle Desmeal Leigh.
Coming out of high school at Kent Roosevelt, Leigh only had one year of experience playing high school football before he joined the Penguins. Yet he's developed into one of the best offensive linemen in the country over the course of his career.
Last year, Leigh earned Second-Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors and Third-Team All-American honors from SI.com. Now, after being named a Preseason All-American by Stats Perform, Leigh is hoping to help YSU challenge for a conference title and make a deep playoff run in his final season with the Penguins.
"It's been really cool just to develop and go on my own journey, my own path, and it's really worked out for me," Leigh said. "It's been a really cool journey."
Growing up, Leigh always wanted to play football. But, worried about the possibility of injury, his mother never let him play.
Instead, Leigh utilized his 6-foot-7 frame on the basketball court as a forward for the Rough Riders, while also playing defender for Roosevelt's lacrosse team.
By the time he was a senior, his mother finally relented, and Leigh joined the Rough Riders' football team, where he was selected as a Division II All-Northeast Inland District honorable mention during his lone season on the team.
Despite his lack of football experience, Leigh's size and athleticism caught the attention of YSU's coaches.
"In our league, you better have size, so that jumped out. Then to go see him play a basketball game, he had the footwork, he had the athleticism and he could bend," head coach Doug Phillips said. "Knowing that he played long stick in lacrosse in his days growing up, you take a guy like that, it's our job to make sure that we get them ready to play.
"Our strength staff does a great job developing our guys in the weight room. He came to us with the size and athleticism, now it's our job to teach him how to play football."
As a freshman at YSU, offensive line coach Austen Bujnoch joked that Leigh "looked like a robot" while trying to kick set. But before long, signs of promise started to show.
When he arrived in Youngstown, Leigh weighed in at around 260 pounds. But Bujnoch said Leigh took the onus on himself and put on 50 pounds early on.
"When I first went there and recruited him, I saw this big, tall kid, kind of lanky, kind of skinny, and I saw a vision for him a little bit," Bujnoch said. "It's hard when you recruit these kinds of kids for them to see [the vision]. The tools were there, but the big question was: Is the mindset going to be there? And he really showed it to me right away when he got to college. He put on like 50 pounds himself, and people were like, 'Hey, good job.' But I didn't do anything; Des did everything."
Leigh battled some "self-doubt" early in his career, only playing sparingly in one game against South Dakota during his freshman season in 2022.
But the very next year, Leigh started the season opener at left tackle at Ohio State and didn't give up a sack against the Buckeyes. He went on to start the rest of the season and played every snap in nine games.
"I think that's where he finally figured out, 'Hey, I belong here. This is my journey, and I think this is my path to do it," Bujnoch said. "It wasn't always easy for him, as he knows. The first couple years, he had a lot of doubts, a lot of questioning. 'Is this the right thing to do?'
"But he stuck to himself, and I'm so happy for him that he stuck to his beliefs on that whole journey. He wanted to do what Des wanted to do, not what anybody else wanted to do."
By then, Leigh had established himself as a force on YSU's offensive line. He started all 12 games as a junior in 2024 and started all 13 games as a senior last year, while racking up numerous honors and awards.
Bujnoch has had a history of helping give YSU's offensive linemen a chance to reach the next level. It started with the likes of Mike McAllister, Ryan Johnson and Jaison Williams. Now, Bujnoch feels like Leigh has an opportunity to be the next after this season.
"He's so even-keeled that he knows when he gets there, he's going to get his butt kicked sometimes. But he's gonna stay even-keeled," Bujnoch said. "He went through that journey of self-doubt, where when he gets to the NFL, he's learned the techniques on how to handle that self-doubt. He's going to be at the bottom of the totem pole next year, but he's got the attitude, and he's got the work ethic that I think he's going to be just fine."
Leigh has already received plenty of praise from NFL Draft experts, which included being one of just two FCS players to be named to the 2027 Panini Senior Bowl Top 300 list.
But for now, he's just focused on helping the Penguins achieve their goals this season.
"I've really grown up here in life and on the football field. It's just been night and day," Leigh said. "I've learned a lot, and I just think there's so much more to go and so much more room to grow, so I'm excited."