As a rising star in the NFL, the spotlight seeks out DeAndre Levy.

But the Detroit Lions linebacker sticks to the shadows as much as he can, a tackling machine flipping the switch to reserved renaissance man.

"Out there (on the field), I'm most comfortable just running around, doing what I'm doing for a living," said Levy, the NFL's second-leading tackler and a key cog on the dominating defense that has the Lions in the playoffs for just the second time in 15 years. "It's fun. If you can't be alive, can't get up for that, there's something wrong with you.

"Out there, you can't be the same guy," Levy said. "You have to be two different people."

Stepping onto an NFL football field requires a transformation of mindset. For three hours a man must become a warrior, prepared for grueling physical and mental combat. Only after the final whistle blows can they morph back into the person they were before they put on the shoulder pads and cleats.

Between the white lines, Levy has no problem flipping the switch. He's instinctual and physical, plays with passion and effort and his preparation leading up to a game is unimpeachable.

People around the Lions organization say he's one of the last guys in the weight room every day, and he goes above and beyond with his film study.

Away from the game, Levy is reserved, thoughtful and intelligent. His hobbies include reading, world traveling, and lately he's been dabbling in cooking.

Levy would prefer to avoid the spotlight away from the field, but with success has come added attention.

One of his former coaches at the University of Wisconsin called him the consummate loner, and that was long before Levy grew out the bushy beard that makes him look like a hermit.

Levy despises the attention that comes with being a budding superstar in his profession. During daily media availability, Levy typically sits alone, sometimes with the lights dimmed, in his position group's meeting room -- off limits to the cameras and microphones that want to capture what he has to say.

That's just Levy. He's serious about the game and he doesn't think talking about it with reporters will make him a better player.

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Levy's demeanor manifested early.

His father Rodney laughs about it now, but when DeAndre was just 6 years old and his tee-ball team would lose, his son would clam up. Instead of sticking around and enjoying a juice box and an orange slice with teammates like most kids, DeAndre just wanted to get in the car and go home.

"I didn't know whether he was being a brat or he just hated to lose," Rodney Levy said. "I always told myself he was just competitive."

At that age, it was probably a little bit of both. But Levy continued to exhibit an extraordinary competitive fire as he grew older, with the intrinsic desire to constantly outperform not just his opponents but himself.

In 2004, while playing for Vincent High School in Milwaukee, Levy was hospitalized with a welt on his back. At first he thought it was a spider bite, but he became concerned as it swelled and grew increasingly painful. It turned out to be an infection he needed to have drained and dressed.

It was a Thursday night, the day before a game, and given the circumstances, Vincent coach Elliot Lightfoot just wanted Levy to rest and come back when he was healthy.

"The next morning, he's in school. I'm like, 'What are you doing?'" Lightfoot recalled. "He said, 'I've got to play. Doctor released me.' I called his parents to ask if they were sure about this and they were OK."

That night, Levy's team beat Hamilton, 46-0.

When reminded of the story, Levy smiles. Looking back it seems so silly. But as he puts it, every game felt so huge at the time.

In high school, Levy's unique personality was already taking shape. Lightfoot said if you didn't attend the games, you would never know Levy played football.

He was a mild-mannered, excellent student. He never got in any trouble and would come into school an hour early to lift weights. When not at school, he spent the majority of his time at home, where his mother says every time she turned around he'd be reading a book.

On the field, believe it or not, Levy had a penchant for talking. A lot. He could spit trash with the best of them. At halftime of one game the officials pulled Lightfoot aside and asked him to get No. 88 under control.

"I look at him -- 88? That was DeAndre," Lightfoot said. "I cracked up. When you look at DeAndre, he was always quiet, unassuming, goes about his business. On that field, he just flipped that switch."

Vincent had some good teams, but in Wisconsin high school football, the city schools aren't built to compete with those from the suburbs. Despite back-to-back 8-1 records Levy's junior and senior seasons, the Vikings were dumped in the opening round of the state playoffs both years.

One of the top linebacker recruits in the state, Levy was courted by a number of colleges and chose to attend Wisconsin. It was a good fit; a program with good defensive coaches who could harness his raw talent. It also let him stay close to home.

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Jonathan Casillas (2) and DeAndre Levy (11) couldn't have more different personalities when they roomed together at the University of Wisconsin.

At Wisconsin, Levy was assigned to room with linebacker Jonathan Casillas, now a member of the New England Patriots.

The pairing borders on hilarious -- a true 'odd couple' set of roommates.

Levy prefers to keep to himself. Casillas is a socialite; boisterous and loud.

"Honestly, I thought he was a weird dude," Casillas said of Levy. "I just thought he was weird. He was anti-social and I'm the complete opposite."

For Wisconsin fans, the two are forever linked. Both linebackers moved into the starting lineup their sophomore year with Levy playing the strong side and Casillas on the weak side. Wisconsin went 12-1 in that 2006 season, their only loss coming to Michigan.

Casillas says he drew Levy out of his shell. Levy disagrees, saying he was just into doing his own thing, something Casillas can't deny.

"He was wired differently than the average person," Casillas said. "We were all into what we saw on TV, what we saw in social settings. He was more into the abstract. He listened to music different than what we listened to. He was a step ahead of us, or maybe a step to the right."

Casillas had no problem relating to Levy as a player. Although he had a difficult time believing his teammate was the same guy he roomed with away from the field.

"It's night and day when comparing him on the field to off the field," Casillas said. "On the field, it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He turns into another person. He's actually talkative. In college, we joked that he talked more to the other team than he did his own teammates."

Despite falling on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, the two forged a strong bond. They remain in touch and exchanged jerseys after a game last season, when Casillas was still with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

*****

Levy was part of Martin Mayhew's first Lions draft class, selected in the third round in 2009, the same year the organization made quarterback Matthew Stafford the No. 1 overall pick.

Strangely enough, former general manager Matt Millen almost foiled Detroit's chances to land the linebacker.

Rob Lohman, currently Detroit's assistant director of pro personnel, was the team's Midwest scout at the time. When he made his first trip to Wisconsin that year to evaluate a roster full of NFL talent, Levy was pretty far down the list -- well behind Casillas, Matt Shaughnessy, Kraig Urbik, Travis Beckum and others.

Previously compiled reports indicated Levy had can't-miss intangibles and off-the-charts football character. The measurables and production just didn't pop off the page the same way. But as Lohman watched the Badgers practice, Levy kept catching his eye.

"He could do a little bit of everything and you realize, this kid has a chance," Lohman said. "He just grew on you."

It was a productive day for the scout. He had accidentally left his phone at his hotel, and opted not to go back and retrieve it. When he got back to his room, the cell was flooded with texts and voice mails.

Millen had been fired that afternoon in September 2008.

Had Lohman gone back to the hotel for his phone that day, there's no way he would have been able to focus. He probably never notices Levy.

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Levy said Detroit's locker room had a dead aura when he arrived as a draft pick in 2009.

Detroit was a depressing place when Levy joined the team. The Lions were coming off the 0-16 season of 2008. He admits it didn't feel like a professional organization and the locker room had a dead aura.

But the timing couldn't have been better for Levy. The lack of quality talent on the roster allowed him to get plenty of early playing time and he found a kindred spirit in Matt Burke, who then was the team's first-year linebacker coach.

In the same way Levy doesn't fit the mold of a football player away from the field, Burke doesn't fit the mold of a coach.

An Ivy League graduate who majored in psychology, Burke is an avid reader and adventure traveler. For Christmas each year, he would buy his players a book. He's convinced Levy is the only one who read them.

During position group meetings, Burke would use stories of his offseason travels to exotic locales such as Peru and Cambodia as teaching tools. Levy long had an interest in seeing the world, according to his parents, and Burke's experiences showed him how realistic it was to pursue.

"Burke, he definitely inspired me to take that step because he's that guy that goes out there and travels on his own," Levy said. "I was like, 'OK, he does it, so I can do it, too.' I just get up and go for it. It was always something I wanted to do, but when you can talk to somebody first-hand and hear their stories, it eases you into it."

Just in the last few years Levy has been to Peru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, South Africa and Botswana. He's trekked to Machu Picchu, swam with sharks and gone on an African safari. He's interested in getting to Norway, Australia and New Zealand in the near future.

While Burke was helping cultivate Levy's worldly interests, he was also molding the linebacker from a run-of-the-mill starter into the Pro Bowl-caliber talent he's become the past two years.

Burke, who is currently coaching linebackers for the Cincinnati Bengals, credits the pupil for making the teacher's job easy.

"I don't know if I've been around a lot of players that are as self-aware as he is," Burke said of Levy. "When he was playing poorly -- missed some games early in his career and we were moving him around -- he could have made excuses, but he was always looking at himself and what he could do better.

"He doesn't make excuses," Burke continued. "He's all about doing everything he can do to get better. He's very aware of what he needs to work on, what type of player he is, what his strengths and weaknesses are. It's a pretty rare find."

*****

Prior to a training camp practice in 2013, former Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham started chatting with Lohman on the sidelines. The coach asked the scout: "Do you think Levy can take that next step?"

Lohman admits he was skeptical. In his 13 years in the NFL, he hadn't seen a player make a huge leap between his fourth and fifth seasons.

He can't say that anymore.

In 16 starts last season, Levy set a career high with 119 tackles and made a name for himself in coverage, finishing second in the league with six interceptions.

This year, in a new defensive scheme, the interception numbers dipped. But he blew the tackle total out of the water with 150 stops. That includes a career-best 16 behind the line of scrimmage. He joined Chris Spielman as the only players in franchise history to record double-digit tackles 10 times in one season.

Unbeknownst to Lohman, Levy had made a commitment to step up his efforts in the offseason before the 2013 campaign. He went from being hard-working to the hardest-working.

"I always valued my work, but I feel like the last two-and-a-half years, I made a conscious effort to take it to the next level in my preparation," he said. "More so, from a consistency standpoint. I've always gone in there and worked. I've never cut any corners. Now, it's more of conscious effort. Like the days I'm tired, I push myself to do it."

Levy credits his parents for instilling his work ethic. Both still live in Milwaukee and work full-time jobs. His mother, Paula, is a secretary and Rodney is an assembly line worker.

DeAndre Levy says his father is the type to talk about walking to school in the snow, uphill both ways, but when it comes to his work there's never a complaint.

"He's up early every morning, even on his off days, he's up doing yard work or whatever," Levy said.

Levy's parents attend 10 Lions games each season -- every home game plus the shorter trips to Chicago and Green Bay.

This isn't a new trend. They've made an effort to be there for every game since he started playing pee-wee football at age 6.

Making the six-hour trip to Detroit can be taxing, but supporting their son overrides their fatigue.

"It can be exhausting with work, traveling on the weekends, but you get to kickoff and you forget about that," Rodney Levy said. "You get home, you're tired and you think, 'Maybe I shouldn't go next weekend,' then you go do it again."

*****

DeAndre Levy's reputation as a top-notch player is growing in NFL circles. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

Not that he cares, but Levy's play still isn't being recognized by fans outside of Detroit. Despite a second consecutive stellar season, he still lagged significantly behind more well-known names like Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers in fan Pro Bowl balloting.

But within NFL circles, Levy's name resonates. He checked in at No. 59 on the list of the league's 100 best players as voted on by his peers last year.

Opposing coaches rave about him. Former New York Jets coach Rex Ryan admitted he didn't know Levy from the next guy before the Detroit linebacker went on his interception binge in 2013.

But here's what Ryan had to say back in September: "He is instinctive, he plays the run, he's got great timing, he's a heck of a football player," Ryan said. "Maybe outside of Wilber Marshall or somebody like that that comes to mind, (Levy's) coverage skills are special. I think it's more, he's an athletic obviously, but his instincts are really what sets him apart from most."

Marshall was a three-time All-Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Chicago Bears (1985) and Washington Redskins (1991). That's high praise from Ryan, considered by many as one of the game's best defensive coaches.

Pro Bowl nod or not, Levy has become a bonafide star.

"He's an expert at what he does and I think you see that sort of carry over in his play," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said earlier this season. "If you want to know where he is and how effective he is, just watch the football. He shows up and shows up quickly. He's got skill level, obviously, that is extraordinary.

"He's a very unusual guy."

A perfect description, both on and off the field.

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