Call him Leinart the lionhearted
MIAMI – Matt Leinart became a natural for People magazine as soon as he won the Heisman Trophy last month.
The Southern California quarterback has dated a professional model and soap opera starlets, is friends with Jessica Simpson and her husband Nick Lachey (who attends USC) and has partied with the likes of Adam Sandler and Lindsay Lohan.
Oh, to be young and good-looking in Los Angeles.
Leinart has received more than his 15 minutes of fame since the end of the regular season, when he started making the rounds on the awards circuit. But the constant adulation is starting to get old, just as Jason White of Oklahoma, last year’s Heisman winner, told him it would.
“It’s been a whirlwind the last few weeks,” Leinart said. “The attention I received … It definitely has been frustrating and overdone at times. My life has changed and I think it’s going to continue. It will die down after this game. But it’s been a life changer.”
The junior faces huge expectations when the top-ranked Trojans (12-0) play second-ranked Oklahoma (12-0) in the Bowl Championship Series national championship game Tuesday at the Orange Bowl. The local media is already hyping this clash of the titans as the best bowl game in history. Leinart will try to make sure he doesn’t get devoured by the ghosts of past Heisman-winning quarterbacks who came up short in recent national title games: Chris Weinke of Florida State in 2000, Eric Crouch of Nebraska in 2001 and White last year.
The crush of time-consuming commitments, along with a battered and bruised body, eventually took its toll on White last year. Kansas State and LSU, aware the Sooners were a one-dimensional offense, began attacking White with every blitz imaginable in the final two games. White had a dreadful Sugar Bowl, completing 13 of 37 passes for 102 yards and two interceptions in a 21-14 loss to the Tigers in the BCS title game. He was so distraught in the spring he actually asked Sooners coach Bob Stoops if he still were the starter.
The left-handed Leinart has not experienced that kind of emotional valley. Leinart has that laid-back beach kid personality that suits him for his position in the Trojans’ budding dynasty. Since USC coach Pete Carroll chose him on a hunch to become Carson Palmer’s replacement as the end of preseason drills in 2003, Leinart has led a charmed life, throwing a touchdown on the first pass of his career in a 23-0 victory over Auburn. The 6-foot-5 QB, who completed 251 of 377 passes for 2,990 yards and 28 touchdowns with just six interceptions this season, has led the Trojans to a 24-1 record in his two years as a starter. Leinart was a relatively unknown redshirt freshman when USC went to the Orange Bowl two years ago. He was a third-string backup to Palmer. Leinart got the perks of South Beach nightlife while Palmer prepped for a 37-14 victory over Iowa.
This time, Leinart has been in the spotlight since the start of the season. “If you look back to the buildup of the first game against Virginia Tech, he went in billed as a Heisman Trophy hopeful and all that kind of stuff,” Carroll said. “He’s had to live with that for an entire season and has done it very well.
“I think his experience as a backup to Carson Palmer and watching Carson deal with the all the stuff about being on the cover of ‘Sports Illustrated’ and going to a bowl game as a Heisman winner has really helped him.”
Leinart will need to keep his head on straight in this game, which has taken on a bigger-than-life quality because of the tradition of both programs and the star power on both sides. Carroll and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma both have national championship rings and there will be no less than 10 consensus All-Americans on the field. This will be the first matchup of two Heisman winners in a college game.