Vander Esch spent his childhood in the city of Riggins, which is located in Idaho. His ancestors came from the Netherlands. He was a student at Salmon River High School in Riggins, where he participated in track and field, eight-man football, and basketball. In 2014, he had a total of eleven pupils in his graduating class.
Vander Esch’s positions on the football team included quarterback and middle linebacker. He completed 121 passes out of 199 attempts, which is a completion rate of 60.8%. He threw for 2,155 yards and 28 touchdowns while only throwing one interception.
In addition to that, he had 157 carries for 1,565 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns, 131 tackles (85 solo), five interceptions, five fumble recoveries, and four defensive scores. He also had four defensive touchdowns.
During his team’s victory over Lighthouse Christian School in the state championship game, which they won 53-38, he racked up more than 500 yards of total offense and scored all five of his team’s offensive touchdowns. He was honored as the All-Idaho 1A Division II Player of the Year after leading SRHS to victory in the 1A D2 state title.
As a senior, he led Salmon River to back-to-back titles at the 1A D2 basketball state tournament with a 29.4-point scoring average and 11.1 rebounding average per game in basketball.
How Tall Is Leighton Vander Esch?
Leighton Vander Esch is an American football linebacker who has a height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and a weight of 255 lb (116 kg).