ESPN.com - Diary: Leak not satisfied with two state titles

ESPN.com: Recruiting

Thursday, August 29, 2002
Updated: September 5, 1:57 PM ET
Diary: Leak not satisfied with two state titles

By Chris Leak with Wayne Drehs
Special to ESPN.com

I know there is a giant target on my back. I know everybody in the state is gunning for our team and wants to shut me down.

But it doesn't bother me.

In my eyes, the 2002 season started back in March. It's just that it counts now.

We've put the work in to be successful. Forty-seven different players joined my dad this spring to work on keeping in shape and improve the timing between me and my receivers.

	Tale of the tape
	Chris Leak 6-foot-1, 205 lbs. 4.6 40-yard dash 265 lb. bench press Week 1 33-0 win vs. Providence 20-33-1, 351 Yds. 2 TDs passing (70,11) 2 TDs rushing (1, 18)
	Leak's Recruiting trail
	The current Top 5 (alphabetical order) Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee Scheduled visits Sep. 14 - Notre Dame Oct. 19 - Florida
	From the mailbag
	This week's letter was a form letter sent from the University of Virginia. Obviously, coaches can't handwrite every letter. But this envelope included not only a form letter to me, but stuck to it in my envelope was the exact same letter addressed to someone else. Oops.

We'd be out there in the scorching heat, working on mechanics, footwork, all the fundamentals it takes to be a champion. It was the biggest turnout we've ever had. So if anybody thinks our team is complacent after two state championships, you're wrong.

We want to be the first team in Mecklenburg County history to win three straight state championships. We want to be talked about in the same breath as DeLaSalle, the California team that hasn't lost a game in 10 years.

What they've done is amazing. And it just shows us we have to work harder. We can never be satisfied. We haven't lost since the 2000 season, winning 30 straight games. A perfect season this year would tie a North Carolina record for consecutive victories.

Individually, I'd like to set the national career passing record (I need another 4,058 yards this season) and touchdown record (I need 42 TDs). To be able to tell your kids that someday would be pretty cool. This weekend, I need some 300 yards passing to set the North Carolina career record, which would be a great honor, too.

My summer was busy like any other summer: overloaded with football stuff. I probably got the most attention for attending the Elite 11 passing camp in California. Each year, Bob Johnson, the father of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Rob Johnson, invites the top 11 high school quarterbacks to California.

We threw some 500 passes a day -- man, my arm was sore -- but we learned a ton. From going up in front of the class and diagramming the X's and O's of reading a defense to improving my footwork, it was a great experience. We even got to go to an Anaheim Angels game and a San Diego Chargers practice. Both Drew Brees and Doug Flutie came over and said hello. I couldn't get over how tiny Flutie is.

Besides that, I attended the Nike camp at the University of Georgia, as well as the camps at Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.

At the Nike camp, I was voted the camp MVP, while one of our receivers, Billy Wiggins, got the receivers MVP.

ESPN.com is following quarterback Chris Leak on his journey from high school to the college ranks. Leak will be writing a diary about his recruitment, and we will file regular reports on the recruiting process through Signing Day on Feb. 5, 2003.

Send in your questions and Chris will answer a few.