How To Make Leaf Wilt Shallow Questions Become Familiar

Talented. Brilliant. Skillful. Adroit. Masterful. Proficient.

Yes, Ryan Leaf can sidestep a question with the best of them.

“The statement is this,” Leaf says with mock weariness, shifting into auto-pilot. “Well, I just want to go out and play this season game by game, and I’ll sit down at the end of the year with my family, my coaches and my teammates and decide what’s in my best interest.

“But right now, I’m going to be here for two more years.”

A sure way to make Leaf’s eyes roll skyward is to strike up a superficial conversation, ask a few benign questions and then inquire as to whether he plans to return for his senior football season at Washington State University.

It’s a routine that is repeated with such regularity that the Cougars’ junior quarterback sees the question coming long before the notebooks open and the tapes start to roll.

“All along, you know they’re just asking me these questions because they’re trying to get to this last one,” Leaf says. “It’s kind of like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah - oh, but I gotta ask this last question. By the way …”

If Leaf has learned to hedge his answers like a pro, he admits he still has to prove he can play like one. The top priority: leading the Cougars to their first winning season and bowl appearance since 1994.

For that to happen, the Cougars will need continued improvement from their 6-foot-5, 238-pound quarterback. Clearly, Leaf has to do more than simply put up big numbers. Last season proved as much.

Leaf passed for 2,811 yards and 21 touchdowns, better stats than any sophomore quarterback in school history - Drew Bledsoe included.

And yet the ‘96 Cougars lost six of 11 games. Three of those losses to Arizona, USC and Washington came down to the final minutes, when a quarterback’s leadership is more valuable than his efficiency rating.

As Leaf might concede, having thrown for 300 yards in a half against San Jose State means little when Jason Chorak is breathing down your neck in the Apple Cup.

Undeterred by the four-game losing streak that ended last season, Leaf spends more time thinking about what might be than what might have been.

“I think about maybe being down by a touchdown with 2 minutes to go and having the ball at the 10-yard line - I love that,” Leaf says. “If I could have 11 games like that and win ‘em all … but then again, sometimes it doesn’t happen that way.”

The losing trend should change this year, coach Mike Price believes.

“The ball bounces funny sometimes,” Price says. “Last year, it bounced wrong for us three times in critical situations, and I just have a feeling the ball is going to bounce our way this year.

“I think it starts with the schedule - we have six home games this year.”

Of course, Price and the Cougars cannot afford to bank merely on getting lucky breaks. Leaf certainly isn’t.

In an effort to be more efficient, Leaf spent long hours during the off-season refining his technique.

By holding the ball higher, he should be less vulnerable to fumbling. That lesson was reinforced in the USC game, when Leaf had the ball stripped during the final seconds of a 29-24 loss.

At the time, the Cougars were rallying deep in USC territory and seemed poised to score the go-ahead touchdown.

By turning his feet more deliberately toward his target, Leaf should make fewer sidearm throws, which are vulnerable to being intercepted.

By adjusting his release point, Leaf is throwing tighter spirals, particularly on long passes. During the final stages of a recent scrimmage, for instance, Leaf hurled a perfect spiral close to 70 yards.

Leaf has also attempted to make mental adjustments. Primarily, coaches would like him to limit the freelancing. That means trusting in his teammates.

“He’ll be able to stay within our system this year because we’ve got five good receivers and a good running back,” Price says. “His life is going to be a lot easier.

“Once he comes out of the framework of the play and the system, then he has a little trouble. And sometimes he does that, he freelances.

“But I’ve never known a great quarterback who didn’t. They have the confidence. It’s a fine line.”

For a team looking to make its own breaks, it’s a line that could separate winning and losing.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo