Matt Leinart

Matt Leinart (born May 11, 1983 in Santa Ana, California) is an American football quarterback (QB) who plays for the University of Southern California Trojans. Before attending college Leinart played QB at his high school, 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.

College career

In his freshman year, he backed up then-quarterback Carson Palmer, who also won the Heisman Trophy and is now the quarterback for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals. In the following offseason, Leinart beat out Matt Cassel and former Purdue QB Brandon Hance for the Trojan starting job. Since taking over as USC's starter, Leinart has accumulated a 25-1 record, was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year twice, and has won the prestigious Heisman Trophy. Leinart is expected to pass Palmer in 2005 as USC's all-time passing leader, and is one of only five players to go into a season with the possibilty of winning two Heisman Trophies, joining Archie Griffin in 1975, Jason White in 2004, Billy Sims in 1978, and Ty Detmer in 1991; Griffin went on to win the other Heisman, while White, Sims, and Detmer failed to do so. Should Leinart and the USC Trojans complete the 2005 college football season undefeated and win an unprecedented third consecutive AP national championship, Leinart would be regarded as one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time and leader of the most potent offense in college history.

Related Topics:
Carson Palmer - Cincinnati Bengals - Matt Cassel - Purdue - Pac-10 - Heisman Trophy - 2005 - Archie Griffin - 1975 - Jason White - 2004 - Billy Sims - 1978 - Ty Detmer - 1991

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~