SAN JOSE – Beau Leroux walked slowly outside the Earthquakes’ locker room and scanned his surroundings. As a hometown kid, this playground is where he’d come every chance he could.
“It was always an honor to come watch,” Leroux said. “San Jose is my home, always will be. I just love the city of San Jose.”
Four years ago, he was playing for Santa Teresa High School en route to Blossom Valley Athletic League MVP honors. Then it was on to San Jose State for three seasons.
On Saturday night, Leroux pulled on jersey No. 34 for his MLS debut. Not only did he surprisingly make the Earthquakes’ starting lineup at age 21, he assisted on their first goal of the season in a 4-0 record-setting rout of Real Salt Lake.
“I was just trying to block out everything I could, just focus on the team and what I could do,” Leroux said of a surreal debut.
Among the 17,432 at PayPal Park were over 50 of Leroux’s friends and family, to which he said: “I did see some of them, heard some of them.” When it was over, his pumped-up father Jeremy offered a “Let’s go! Good job!” Coach Bruce Arena and veteran midfielder Christian Espinoza did the same.
“Beau has played very well for us in the preseason, and every day we saw things in him that showed he’s a really promising player,” said Arena, the Earthquakes’ 73-year-old coach whose talent evaluation has spanned tenures in the MLS, the U.S. national team and college ranks.
Leroux, aside from his local-boy-makes-good story, is one of a handful of promising players integrated into a revamped roster after the Earthquakes’ MLS-worst season a year ago.
Added Arena: “He’s a good young player. Every opportunity we have to play these guys we should play them.”
Leroux was the 42nd pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, and his first career assist came in Saturday night’s 28th minute when he distributed a low pass across the penalty area to Jamar Ricketts, the No. 13 overall pick in that same draft.
“I’m really happy for Beau,” said Espinoza, an incumbent captain who passed that ball up to Leroux. “I talked to him yesterday night, texted him, because I was really happy for him to have the opportunity to play today. I tried to give him confidence, to play calm, because he’s a really calm guy.”
Leroux played last year for the Earthquakes’ MLS NEXT Pro team, The Town FC, based in Moraga. He started 23 of 24 games, an important detail considering his final season at San Jose State was limited to seven games because of a medial collateral ligament tear in his knee.
He only had a month to win over Arena, and that is what he did in their preseason action in Coachella Valley, including an assist against Chicago that resembled Saturday’s.
“Sometimes I just pray that someone is there. Jamar ended up being there,” Leroux said.
Added Ricketts: “Once I’d seen the ball come across, I was like, ‘I got to be the first to win the ball,’ and that’s how I got my foot on it.”
Upon learning he’d cracked the season-opening lineup, Leroux said: “I just felt the trust they have for me to step in for the team, make my debut and start.”
A day earlier, he officially signed his contract, which compelled San Jose State’s program to issue a congratulatory statement from coach Simon Tobin: “I am so happy for and proud of Beau. Unfortunately, he had a knee injury that kept him out of most of his junior year, when I think he would have been All-American material. However, Beau is one of the best players I have ever coached and can play many positions equally well. He loves playing the game and that is evident every time he takes the field.”
Leroux’s first MLS game lasted only the first half, as veteran Mark-Anthony Kaye subbed in at halftime. “We knew he had a little calf strain going into the game and it bothered him a bit so we took him out,” Arena said of Leroux.
“He played a really good game. Hopefully we can see him very often this year inside the starting 11,” Espinoza added. “Also, I’m really happy for the other kids like Niko (Tsakiris), Oscar (Verhoeven). They stepped up during preseason. This is a really good team with big names. They need to be patient and try to be ready when the opportunity comes.”
Leroux called his first MLS opportunity “exciting, electric,” then said of the largest season-opening win in team history: “It’s great for the community, great for the organization to start off hot, start off strong Hopefully we can build off this for the rest of the season.”