FOXBORO — Nick Leverett has big shoes to fill as he gets set to replace David Andrews as the Patriots’ starting center.
Andrews, who will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, and Leverett share the common bond of having blocked for Tom Brady. Andrews did it as Brady’s center from 2015 to 2019, and Leverett blocked for Brady with the Buccaneers from 2020-22.
Leverett signed a one-year deal with the Patriots this offseason.
Get to know him better before he gets set to make his first start Sunday against the Dolphins.
BH: What would you be doing if you weren’t a football player?
NL: I got my undergraduate degree in criminal justice. I got my master’s in global affairs. I wanted to be an FBI agent. I was getting ready to be an FBI agent.
BH: Who was your favorite athlete growing up?
NL: Trent Williams. Dawg. Absolute dawg. It’s like Year 15 for him. I’ve been watching him since he started in Washington.
BH: Did you get to talk to him at all after Week 5?
NL: I did. I actually got his jersey. It was special because I told him I was an undrafted guy. He’s not the tallest tackle, he’s a shorter tackle. And I told him I was undrafted, and they made me play tackle. That was the way I made the team. I used to always watch this film.
BH: Favorite movie?
NL: Yes, “Life” by Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. That’s a movie me and my dad, we still watch to this day. My fiancee, she gets tired of it, because I can recite line for line of the movie. But it’s just like, it’s a special movie for me and my dad, because we both love it. It’s a funny movie. It’s just our bond movie.
BH: Favorite musical artist?
NL: It’s a gospel artist named John P. Kee. I’ve been listening to gospel every gameday. That’s how I get my morning worship in. And I listen to him.
BH: Who have you been closest with on the team so far?
NL: One guy that I would say probably gets the edge is (guard) Michael Jordan. Me and him, we’re pretty cool. We can relate in a lot of ways. His wife, my fiancee, they’re pretty tight, as well. We’ve been on double dates before and everything like that.
BH: Who’s the funniest guy on the team?
NL: We got a lot of jokesters on the team. The funniest player, I would say probably (defensive tackle Christian) Barmore.
BH: What’s your favorite thing about the New England region?
NL: I love the food here. We took my son to the aquarium before camp. So that was pretty nice. That was a pretty good experience. But definitely the food. I like the food here.
BH: Who’s a player around the league who’s underrated or underappreciated?
NL: (Buccaneers center) Robert Hainsey.
BH: Do you have a hidden talent?
NL: Man, I got plenty of them. I’m a country guy, so I fish, and I go to the range all the time. I shoot guns at the range. I fish, and I also know how to play piano. I played a piano for my church growing up. I played the drums for my church growing up, as well. So, yeah, I’m quite the musician.
BH: What was your first football memory?
NL: I didn’t start playing football until, like, fifth grade. But my cousin, Michael Bost, he was playing. He was a year older than me, but he had started playing since little league, which was, like, third grade. My mom didn’t want me to play football. I used to just ride with him to go to practice. I’d sit there and watch and everything. And then my aunt Gloria, she finally convinced my mom, I believe, when I was in fourth grade, she finally convinced my mom to let me go out that year with him. My mom was just like, ‘No, he’s not going out. No, no, no.’ But she finally convinced her to let me go out.
BH: Top high school football memory:
NL: I got two. One was I was at North Rowan because I started my high school career at North Rowan, and we had this super team. It was probably like the best team we had had. It was guys I grew up with and everything like that. We just went undefeated. We was beating everybody and everything like that. We were so good, and then we went and we lost in the second or third round of playoffs. But it was just so crazy. Because, like, we finally had met our match.
And then the next high school memory was when I transferred to Concord High School. The best memory from that year was the big-time rivalry bell game. That’s the thing they got in North Carolina. One of the biggest rivalries in the country for high school football is called a bell game between Concord High School and A.L. Brown (Kannapolis, N.C.) High School. And, you know, it was a big game, Friday Night Lights, the first game of season. So my first game with the team, and we won. We celebrated on the middle of the field. We had the bell. I was ringing the bell. One of them, like Duke-Carolina games, just as big, honestly.
BH: Top college football memory?
NL: My top college football memory is when I was at North Carolina Central University. I was a freshman. I was a freshman playing with four seniors. I was playing left tackle, another great squad led by a great offensive line, still guys I talk to to this day, Carl Jones, being one, Clevonne Davis, all great guys. It was a game against our rivals, North Carolina A&T, and it was for the conference championship. It was a nighttime game. We had pulled out our all-black uniforms for the first time. They were a great team. They had Tariq Cohen, very good back, played in the league for a long time. They had Brandon Parker, still in the league. They had some really good guys. Everybody bet against us. We took it personally. We went out there, and we legit ran the score up on them. It was a great feeling. We won the conference championship, advanced to the HBCU national championship game.
BH: What made North Carolina Central so special?
NL: It was where I started. I didn’t get a lot of offers coming out of high school. I felt like I was overlooked and everything like that, which is OK. I’m thankful for the route I took. North Carolina Central University will always be a special place in my heart, just because, one, I met the love of my life there. Two, that was the only school that really gave me a chance. And it was just like the HBCU experience as well. It’s an experience I wouldn’t trade in for the world, something that I’m definitely thankful for.
