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| Birth Name(s) : Matt Leinart |
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Full Matt Leinart Biography
Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983 in Santa Ana, California) is an American football quarterback (QB) for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Southern California Trojans, leading them to an AP national championship in 2003, a BCS national championship in 2004, and an appearance in the 2005 BCS national championship game. Leinart earlier played QB at Mater Dei High School, Santa Ana. In 2004, his junior year at USC, he won the Heisman Trophy. He also won the inaugural Manning Award for college quarterbacks in the same season. Anticipating his entry into the NFL, he signed with Creative Artists Agency to handle endorsements, and Leigh Steinberg to be his agent in January 2006 (although Leinart fired Steinberg three months later).
Leinart was born with strabismus (“crossed eyes”), as 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 to make him an easy target for ridicule at the hands of other children. “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. Leinart would finally come into his own at Mater Dei High School, where he graduated as one of the most decorated high school quarterbacks in Southern California prep history. Following his standout senior season in 2001, he accepted a scholarship to University of Southern California.
In his sophomore season (2003), Leinart beat out Matt Cassel, a redshirt junior who backed up Palmer in 2002, and Purdue transfer Brandon Hance for the starting job at quarterback. Going into the 2003 season, Carroll and his coaching staff selected Leinart not because he had set himself significantly ahead of the pack in practice, but because they needed a starting quarterback. 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.
Leinart and the Trojans bounced back the next week in one of Leinart's most famous college moments 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 12-of-23 for 289 yards in a 37-17 victory.
He finished on a weaker note in the final regular season game against UCLA, as he was held without a touchdown pass for the first time in 25 starts. Nonetheless, Leinart was invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony, along with teammate Reggie Bush, Oklahoma's freshman sensation Adrian Peterson, incumbent Jason White, and Utah's Alex Smith. In what many had considered one of the more competitive Heisman races, Leinart became the sixth USC player to claim the Heisman trophy.Matt Leinart's Heisman Trophy
Leinart and the Trojans completed a perfect regular season, finishing 12-0, during which Leinart threw for a career-high 400 yards against Notre Dame. After an incomplete pass and a sack led to a fourth-and-nine situation with ninety seconds left at the Trojans' own 26-yard line, Leinart called a gutsy audible fade route at the line 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 controversial QB 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 USC-Notre Dame rivalry.
The Trojans advanced to the Rose Bowl to face Vince Young and No. 2 Texas in the BCS title game. The title game was considered another "dream matchup". Leinart himself had a great game, going 29-of-40 for a touchdown and 365 yards, but was overshadowed by Young, who piled up 467 yards of total offense and rushed for three touchdowns, including a score with 19 seconds remaining and two-point conversion to put the Longhorns ahead, 41-38. The Trojans lost for the first time in 35 games, and Leinart lost for just the second time in his 39 career starts.
Leinart finished his college career 807/1245 (64.8%) for 10,693 yards and 99 touchdowns with just 23 interceptions. He is USC's all-time leader in career touchdown passes and completion percentage, and is second at USC behind Palmer in completions and yardage. He averaged nearly 8.6 yards per attempt, and averaged only one interception every 54 attempts. He was 37-2 as a starter.
Leinart opened the 2007 season on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers as the starting quarterback. After some poor plays, he began alternating with Warner. On October 10, 2007, Leinart suffered a fractured left collarbone after being sacked by St. Louis Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon. Three days later, he was placed on Injured Reserve, effectively ending his season. Warner took over the starting quarterback position from that point on. |
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