Giants at Colts, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS

INDIANAPOLIS — He spent his Victory Monday surprising a diehard Colts fan at work, his Tuesday morning donating 100 bicycles to the Dillon County Department of Social Services, his Tuesday evening Googling what it meant to be a Pro Bowl alternate.

About that "alternate"...

“I’d say heartbroken is the right word,” says his wife, Kayla.

After the calls came, first from GM Chris Ballard, then from coach Frank Reich, Darius Leonard sat there stunned. Confused. Angry. The player with the most tackles in football – the most by a rookie in his first 13 games in league history – hadn’t earned a spot in the Pro Bowl? How was this even possible? It had been a goal of his from the start of the season, and he wanted it. Instead Leonard was left seething, soaking in a sentiment he knows all too well: disrespect.

“Nothing new for me,” the Colts rookie linebacker said Wednesday. “Been overlooked my whole life.”

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He’s right. It’s where his edge comes from, that unmistakable rage he plays with on Sundays. Leonard was the lanky teenager who’d jog to his high school weight room before the sun came up, the college phenom from the small school whose skills weren’t supposed to translate at the next level, the second-round pick who was labeled a reach from Day 1. Instead he’s become one of the best defensive players in football, the impetus behind the Colts’ sudden and surprising defensive revival.

And yet ... no Pro Bowl. One-hundred forty-six tackles, seven sacks, four forced fumbles, two recoveries, seven pass deflections, an interception ... and no Pro Bowl.

“On a scale of 1-10, how mad are you?” Leonard was asked Wednesday.

“20,” he blurted out.

On that note, good luck to the New York Giants on Sunday.

“Fuel to the fire,” Leonard called it.

But forget the Pro Bowl for a minute. Forget the snub. Most striking about Leonard is how utterly unfazed he’s been through the whirlwind that has been his rookie season. He remains the “yes sir, no sir,” unfailingly polite, country kid he’s always been, the one who never turns down an interview and hasn’t stopped to notice he’s well on his way to NFL stardom.

“I honestly don’t think it’s clicked with either one of us,” Kayla says of her husband’s budding fame.

“We’re still in disbelief I’m even in the NFL,” he adds.

Exhibit A: Earlier this week, on a trip home to tiny Lake View, S.C., Leonard caught up with his old high school baseball coach. When that coach mentioned there was a Colts fan in town who’d love to meet him, Leonard didn’t think twice about it. He made it happen.

Travis Fox got the call two hours before his shift was supposed to start at a Kia dealership in Florence, S.C. a half-hour away. “Get your (expletive) to work,” a co-worker told him over the phone, “there’s someone here who wants to meet you.” Next came a deep voice with that unmistakable Southern drawl.

“Hey Travis, this is Darius Leonard with the Indianapolis Colts. Where you at?”

“I was like, ‘Holy (expletive)!” says Fox, a native Hoosier from New Castle. “I didn’t even lock my front door. Didn’t put on a belt, didn’t put on deodorant. Drove 90 miles an hour down the highway. I get there and he’s standing in the showroom, waiting for me. He was so nice. He shook my hand, posed for photos, did a video with me. Zero ego whatsoever. It was the best Monday I’ve had in a long time.”

Fox adds one more thing: “It absolutely 100 percent blew my mind that the Defensive Rookie of the Year would take time out of his day to stop by the dealership just to say hi because his high school baseball coach asked him to.”

Exhibit B: The reason Leonard was home wasn’t to surprise a Colts fans at a car dealership, but to give back to the community he came from. He donated 50 turkeys to area families before Thanksgiving. For Christmas, he wanted to do more.

So he purchased 100 youth bicycles, and donated them to his high school’s annual Christmas fund. The county will make sure to get the bikes to kids whose families wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them.

“I know what it’s like to be a kid back in Lake View, and I know how it feels to not have anything,” Leonard said. “We don’t have the most money, and sometimes they don’t get anything for Christmas. When I was younger, I didn’t get everything I wanted, but my mom made sure I got everything I needed.”

“That’s something near to his heart,” Kayla added. “That’s just what’s in him. He sees that some kids back home are struggling, and their parents are struggling. He felt he had to do something.”

On Wednesday, after surprising Fox at work, and after donating all those bikes at his old high school, it was back to work for Leonard, another dangerous offense to prepare for. The Maniac seemed to have an extra edge, his words laced with added fuel each time his Pro Bowl snub was brought up.

He didn’t hide his disdain. He also didn’t seem to mind the extra motivation.

When told his teammate Eric Ebron suggested he might go off for 40 tackles this week, Leonard nodded. He smiled. “That’s the goal.”

“That’s probably impossible, (right)?” he was then asked. “Forty tackles?”

“Impossible?” Leonard snapped back, a cocky smile strewn across his face.

“There’s nothing that’s impossible.”

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.