Missouri’s Wesley Leftwich proves he’s a playmaker as well as a leader

Wesley Leftwich hauled in a 14-yard touchdown on Columbia Hickman’s first play from scrimmage in a 60-21 victory Oct. 8, 2010, at Gateway Tech in St. Louis.

He later left that game, the seventh of his senior season, because of a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and a broken fibula.

Until Saturday at Arkansas State, that was the last time Leftwich, now a senior wide receiver at Missouri, had scored a touchdown.

There was 5 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Leftwich jab inside with his left foot then broke hard toward the boundary, gaining a step on Red Wolves cornerback Jamaris Hart up the right sideline.

“I beat the guy off the ball pretty bad, so I was just like, ‘Please see it. Please see it,’ and (junior quarterback Maty Mauk) saw and threw it up,” Leftwich said.

As Mauk’s 32-yard rope zipped toward the sideline, Leftwich leaped to meet the ball and plucked it over Hart’s head.

“I saw the ball in the defender was right there, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to get up and high point this,’ ” Leftwich said “I came down, and it was a touchdown.”

Leftwich is the only player higher in class than a sophomore among the Tigers’ 11 scholarship receivers.

Throughout the offseason, coach Gary Pinkel and his staff talked up Leftwich’s leadership, but there wasn’t much talk about his ability to make impact plays — like the game-tying touchdown in a tougher-than-expected road battle.

“He’s got great foot speed,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “We’ve just got to take advantage of it, give him opportunities to catch the long balls. … We’ve seen him make some plays and we’ve just got to encourage him to be positive that he can make more.”

Leftwich, who missed the season opener against Southeast Missouri because of a sprained knee he suffered midway through the Tigers’ fall camp, certainly hopes it won’t take another five years to reach the end zone.

“I’m addicted now,” he said. “I want to get back in the end zone and get that feeling again. It was a long time coming, and I’m just hoping to get a lot more.”

In the meantime, he’s enjoying the first one, watching it on film and rewinding for another viewing countless times.

“Oh, a lot,” Leftwich said. “Probably a lot. It’s like your first catch. You just want to keep reliving that moment. It was a great thing, and it was an exciting moment.”

If there’s anything he needs to work on, it’s his end-zone celebration.

“You think about it, but when the moment comes I just got to go, ‘Crap. what do I do?’ ” Leftwich said. “Obviously, you don’t want to get a 15-yard penalty with unsportsmanlike conduct or excessive celebration. I’m not one of those showy guys anyway.”

Instead, Leftwich took the act-like-you’ve-been-there approach. He skipped a bit, tossed the ball to the ref and then went to celebrate with his teammates.

“It’s always great to be able to contribute,” Leftwich said. “I always knew I could make plays, so it just comes down to you guys finally believing in me.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Missouri’s Wesley Leftwich proves he’s a playmaker as well as a leader."