Matt Leinart
Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for the USC Trojans, where he won the Heisman Trophy and led his team to an undefeated season as a junior. Selected tenth overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2006 NFL Draft, Leinart primarily served as Kurt Warner's backup for four seasons. He spent his final three seasons in a backup role for the Houston Texans and the Oakland Raiders. Leinart was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.[3]
No. 7, 11
May 11, 1983
Santa Ana, California, U.S.
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
225 lb (102 kg)
Mater Dei
(Santa Ana, California)
USC (2001–2005)
2006 / Round: 1 / Pick: 10
641
641
366
57.1%
15–21
4,065
70.2
89
2
Early years[edit]
Leinart was born in Santa Ana, California with strabismus (commonly known as "crossed eyes"); his left eye was not aligned correctly with his right. He underwent surgery when he was three years old and was fitted with special glasses to correct the problem, but the eyewear combined with Leinart's already-overweight frame made him an easy target for other children's ridicule.[4] "I used to get made fun of for being cross-eyed. It's just a terrible thing because kids are so cruel to the fat kid, to the kid with the glasses. So I turned to sports," he would later say.[5]
Leinart attended Mater Dei High School and was a letterman in football and basketball. As a junior, he led his team to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I co-championship and was named the Serra League's Offensive Most Valuable Player. Wearing number 7, he was chosen as the Gatorade California high school football player of the year.[6]
As one of the nation's top college football recruits, Leinart committed to USC under coach Paul Hackett, noting that a major factor was offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.[7] However, after Hackett and most of his staff were fired in 2000, Leinart considered other programs such as Georgia Tech and Arizona State, and visited Oklahoma and Michigan before USC eventually hired Pete Carroll.[8][9][10]
College career[edit]
2001–2003 seasons[edit]
Leinart attended the University of Southern California, where he played for coach Pete Carroll's USC Trojans football team from 2001 to 2005. He redshirted in 2001.[11] As a freshman the next year, he understudied senior quarterback Carson Palmer, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and was drafted first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2003 NFL Draft.[12][13] Leinart appeared in only a few plays in 2002 but did not throw any passes. As a sophomore in 2003, Leinart competed with redshirt junior Matt Cassel, who was Palmer's backup the previous season, and Purdue transfer Brandon Hance for the vacant starting quarterback position.[14] Going into the season, Carroll and his coaching staff selected Leinart, not because he had set himself significantly ahead of the pack in practice, but because they had to pick one of the three as the starting quarterback.[15]
When the coaching staff told Leinart he would be the starter, he replied, "You're never going to regret this." There was some thought in the press that Leinart would merely hold the starting position until highly touted true freshman John David Booty, who had bypassed his senior year in high school to attend USC, could learn the offense.[16]
Leinart's first career pass was a touchdown against Auburn in a 23–0 victory in the season opener.[17] He won the first three games of his career before the then-#3 Trojans suffered a 34–31 triple-overtime defeat to California on September 27 that dropped the Trojans to #10.[18][19] Leinart and the Trojans bounced back the next week against Arizona State. Leinart injured his knee in the second quarter and was not expected to play again that day, but he returned to the game and finished 13-of-23 for 289 yards in a 37–17 victory.[20][21]
Leinart and the Trojans won their final eight games and finished the regular season 11–1 and ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches' polls.[22] However, USC was left out of the BCS championship game after finishing third in the BCS behind Oklahoma and LSU.[23] The Trojans went to the Rose Bowl and played the University of Michigan. Leinart was named the Rose Bowl MVP after he went 23-of-34 for 327 yards, throwing three touchdowns and catching a touchdown of his own from wide receiver Mike Williams.[24][25] In 13 starts, Leinart was 255 for 402 for 3,556 yards, 38 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.[26] He finished sixth in the Heisman voting.[27] He was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.[28]
In recognition of his Rose Bowl accomplishments, Leinart was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2019.[29]
2004 season[edit]
The Trojans started Leinart's junior season (2004) with victories in their first three games.[30] On September 25, the Trojans played Stanford. After Stanford took a 28–17 halftime lead, Leinart sparked the offense with a 51-yard pass to Steve Smith and scored on a one-yard sneak to cut the Cardinal lead to four points. Leinart and the Trojans were able to take the lead on a LenDale White rushing touchdown and held on for the victory, 31–28. Leinart completed 24 of 30 passes.[31] Against Notre Dame, Leinart threw for a career-high 400 yards. After an incomplete pass and a sack led to a fourth-and-nine situation with 1:36 left—at the Trojans' own 26-yard line, Leinart called an audible "slant and go" route at the line of scrimmage and threw deep against the Irish's man-to-man coverage, where Dwayne Jarrett caught the ball and raced to the Irish' 13-yard line, a 61-yard gain. Leinart moved the ball to the goal line as time dwindled and scored on a quarterback sneak that gave the Trojans a 34–31 lead with three seconds to go, giving the Trojans their 28th straight victory and one of the most memorable and dramatic finishes in the history of the Notre Dame–USC rivalry.
Leinart finished the final regular season game against UCLA, but was held without a touchdown pass for the first time in 25 starts.[32] Nonetheless, Leinart was invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony, along with teammate Reggie Bush, Oklahoma's freshman running back sensation Adrian Peterson, quarterback and incumbent Heisman winner Jason White, and Utah's quarterback Alex Smith. In what many had considered one of the more competitive Heisman races,[33] Leinart became the sixth USC player to claim the Heisman Trophy.[34][35]
Professional career[edit]
2006 NFL Draft[edit]
Projected to be the first overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft, Leinart's draft stock decreased after he chose to return to USC for his senior season.[60][61][62][63][64][65] Nonetheless, he remained one of the top prospects in the 2006 NFL Draft. Scouts considered Leinart to be the archetypal NFL quarterback in size at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) and 225 pounds (102 kg), although his arm strength drew concerns. He was selected tenth overall in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Leinart was the draft's second-highest selected quarterback after Vince Young, who defeated Leinart's team in the Rose Bowl.[66]
Personal life[edit]
Leinart has a son with Brynn Cameron, a former USC women's basketball player.[81] The couple split before their son's birth.[82][83]
His mother was Linda (née Primak) and his father is Bob Leinart.
In May 2018, Leinart married Make It or Break It and The Mentalist actress Josie Loren at the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville, North Carolina.[84] In January 2020, Loren gave birth to Leinart's second son. In May 2021, Loren had his third son.[85]
As of January 2023, Leinart is an analyst on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports 1.[86]