All E On Leaf Former Washington State Quarterback Can’t Hide From Spotlight

It started as soon as he stepped off the plane at Sea-Tac, cradling a Blues Brothers hat given to him by actor Dan Aykroyd in his left hand and with a Rose Bowl bag slung over his right shoulder.

It continued as he unloaded his baggage and made his way through the Sheraton Hotel.

Heads turned. Necks craned. Whispers of recognition were offered behind cupped hands. Some smiled and nodded. Others just openly stared.

Welcome to the suddenly not-so-private life of Ryan Leaf.

The record-setting quarterback who led Washington State to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years is having celebrity status thrust upon him at the age of 21.

“I can still be myself, I just have to be careful where I do it,” said Leaf, the focus of attention even when not wanting to be while in Seattle earlier this week to attend the Post-Intelligencer’s Sports Star of the Year awards banquet.

Leaf will take another giant step into the national limelight today when he goes to the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.

The quarterbacks are scheduled to work out this afternoon, and even though Leaf is expected to skip the throwing and running drills, all eyes will be on him as the possible first pick overall in April’s draft.

When the season started, Tennessee’s Peyton Manning was everyone’s choice as the top quarterback available - even Leaf’s. That was before Leaf passed for 3,637 yards and 33 touchdowns, finished third in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy, brought the Cougars within a TD of upsetting No. 1-ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl and decided to forego his senior season at WSU.

With his meteoric rise, and because of his size, the 6-foot-5, 238-pound Leaf doesn’t just stand out in a crowd, he leaps out.

Leaf is from Great Falls, Mont., and played his college ball in Pullman. But he has become a recognizable face in California because the Cougars spent two weeks in Pasadena before the Rose Bowl and he just returned from a three-week stay in Los Angeles and San Diego.

“Everywhere I go in California now, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that I need a special table in a restaurant or something like that,” he said. “We were down there so long, it’s gotten bad in California.”

Not a complaint. Just an honest observation.

Leaf has been a quick study in playing this new game. When he checked into the Sheraton this week, he did it under an assumed name. After the banquet, he used a service exit as his escape route. Leaf also realizes certain places now are off-limits.

“I just don’t go into bars anymore, because that’s putting yourself in a situation where you’ve got to be willing to walk from anything,” he said. “You can be strong-willed, but you’re better off not putting yourself in that situation in the first place.”

On one of Leaf’s rare visits to Pullman since the Rose Bowl, he attended a Washington State basketball game against Arizona in Spokane. Leaf needed security guards to keep fans away from him so he could watch the game.

“I think it’s because it’s so fresh in their minds right now,” Leaf said of the glut of fan interest he’s experiencing. “Maybe wait a few months and it will die down.”