Trainer to the stars

Jameis Winston and Ameer Abdullah have a few things in common.

They were local high school stars. They each left the state to play college football. They are now all-Americans and Heisman Trophy candidates — Winston already has one.

And they each trained from an early age with Otis Leverette.

The 37-year-old Leverette, who owns and operates Modernday Fitness out of Sports Blast Shelby County, has trained more than 80 current college athletes. Two of the more famous ones are Winston and Abdullah.

“Otis Leverette changed my life,” Abdullah said in a phone interview recently. “I can confidently say I would not be where I am today without Otis Leverette.”

But, the Nebraska running back and Homewood High graduate added, “He won’t take any credit.”

Leverette indeed deflected the praise. “I wouldn’t be where I am without him,” the former UAB and NFL defensive lineman said. “A trainer without trainees is no trainer.”

Leverette said players like Abdullah and Winston, the Hueytown High and Florida State quarterback, are the ones with the skills — and the fact that their families “bought in” to allow Leverette the free rein to improve their skills is a key factor. 

“The family has to be willing to do that” for the process to work, Leverette said. That means tough training, tough love, if you will.

“The reason lots of kids, even ‘five-star’ kinds of kids, don’t make it is because the toughness and competitive nature is bred out of them. They’re too nice. You’ve got to have mental and physical toughness. The eye of the tiger.”

Leverette didn’t jump on the bandwagon once these players seemed star-bound, either. He started working with Winston as a ninth-grader and Abdullah as a 10th-grader.

Leverette attended a Homewood High game to watch a couple of his pupils, the Patriots’ Houston Walker and Cameron Broadnax.

“I see this kid with a jersey down to his knees and he had a 5-yard punt return — but it was the most dynamic 5-yard punt return I’ve ever seen. I said, ‘That kid’s got it,’” Leverette said.

That kid was Abdullah, and Leverette began training him and taking him to camps where coaches could see in person that the 5-9, 175-pounder could play running back with the big boys, showing up the nation’s No. 1 running back, James Wilder Jr., in a Nike camp in Tuscaloosa. 

Most schools still saw him as a defensive back. Abdullah was down, almost to the point of giving up his dream of being a running back, he said.

“One thing Otis told me that always sticks with me was, ‘Ameer, you’ve got to be yourself. You’re a running back.’ I’ll never forget that.”

Now Abdullah is on the cusp of setting career rushing records at Nebraska.

As for Winston, the story goes that when he went to Alabama for a camp and ran a rather slow 4.8 40-yard dash, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban told him he needed to get his time down to ever play for him. A year later, after working with Leverette, he ran a 4.6. The coaches didn’t believe it and made him run again. Immediately, no break. Another 4.6.

Although that might seem like a purely physical accomplishment, it’s not. It took understanding the fundamentals of how to run. Leverette said that’s a part of Winston’s gift.

“He’s maybe the most intelligent kid I’ve ever been around because he can be taught something and then he can apply what he’s taught,” Leverette said. “I played with Drew Brees … all these quarterbacks that are labeled as ‘heady.’ Well, Jameis is just as intelligent. He learns quickly. He retains it and applies it. (FSU coach) Jimbo Fisher didn’t have to take one bell or whistle out of his offense for him. He’s just that intelligent. He could grasp that offense and run it.”

So Leverette has those two alumni to brag about, but he‘s just as quick to mention the others he’s worked with, young athletes that dreamed of getting a free college education, and he’s been able to help them along that way with his tough love and a “holistic approach.”

“I always say being a better man will make you a better running back, but being a better running back won’t make you a better man,” Leverette said.

To that end, his program includes a mentorship approach, mixing the sport and positional training you’d expect from a personal trainer with motivational speakers, courses on dealing with media, educating athletes on NCAA eligibility issues and taking them to camps to show off their abilities. He notes lots of youngsters think that because they’re the best on their team, or in their area, they’re the best anywhere. The camps open their eyes and push them.

Leverette said recruiters really don’t beat the bushes and look under every rock like they used to. They’d much rather refer to databases and recruiting services and wait for top players to assert themselves at camps and put the stopwatch on them.

Indeed, part of his service is making sure the right player gets the attention of the right schools.

“A lot of kids go to these camps as fans,” he said. “They love that school, so they go there with no realistic shot at playing there. If you want a free college education, why go to Alabama’s camp when you could have a real shot at Appalachian State? It’s a waste of time. So many kids are investing too much time in too many places they’ll never get an offer from.”

Leverette runs off a list of players he’s worked with who went to schools like Brown and Rice and the Naval Academy, a women’s basketball player at Southern Miss. Among the more familiar names are Jake Ganus (Chelsea High, UAB), Destin Challenger (Homewood/Spain Park, UAB), Chris Rabb (Hueytown, UAB), Dwayne Orso (Homewood, Oklahoma), C.J. Perry (Hoover/Bessemer Academy, Southern Miss) and Kalvin Robinson (Vestavia Hills, Western Kentucky). 

“I tell those guys, you don’t owe me anything. Just come back and find the next kid and pull him up, push him. And they’ve been very consistent in doing that.”

Although he takes on work as an independent contractor to work with a school’s athletes, he doesn’t want to be on a high school or even college coaching staff. He’s had offers, but he likes running his own program, his way.

“This is the best way I can give back,” he said. “I’m content with what I do. I feel like I’m making a difference.”