Matt Leinart

Matt Leinart on Wikipedia:
There is a ton of information on Wikipedia.Here is the info from the USC days though its a little dated now:

2004: The left-handed Leinart, a record-setting All-American who is a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award as a junior in 2004, is nearing the end of his second season as the starting quarterback. He was named to the prestigious 2004 Playboy Pre-Season All-American team (the first USC quarterback so honored). Last season, he finished sixth in the Heisman voting and is the second-leading returning vote getter from last season’s balloting.

His 2004 highlights:
66% completion percentage, 2,348 yards, 26 total touchdowns and 5 interceptions this year

At least two touchdown passes in 9 of 10 games this season and in 21 of 23 games in his career

660 yards, 10 TDs (9 passing, 1 running) and 1 interception combined in wins vs. No. 4 California, No. 14 Arizona St. and No. 15 Va. Tech

Fewer interceptions, a higher completion percentage and more wins than last season…..without the benefit of Mike Williams and Keary Colbert and while breaking in a new offensive line.

He’s like a coach on the field, bringing along his young receivers and directing an offense that scores 37 points per game

61 touchdown passes in 23 career games

At least 1 touchdown pass in every game he has started

A TD pass every 11.7 attempts

53 TDs and 8 interceptions during USC’s 19-game win streak

2003 All-American as well as Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year (John Elway was the only other sophomore to win it)

He is on the verge of becoming only the third quarterback in the last 30 years to quarterback his team to back-to-back national titles.

He is attempting to become only the second quarterback to lead his team on a wire-to-wire run as the nation’s top-ranked team (Heisman winner Chris Weinke was the other)

The most important stat of all: 22-1 as a starting quarterback, the best winning percentage in USC history!

2003: How’s this for filling the shoes of a Heisman Trophy winner? Leinart, a sophomore who had never thrown a pass at USC while seeing brief action in just 3 games in 2002, won USC’s starting quarterback job at the end of 2003 spring practice…by an ever-so-slight edge. He extended his hold on the job through 2003 fall practice, then put together a season in which it appeared there was little–if any–dropoff from Carson Palmer’s 2002 Heisman production.

Leinart in 2003:

• Overall in 2003 while starting all 13 games, Leinart completed 255-of-402 passes (63.4%) for 3,556 yards, 38 TDs and just 9 interceptions, plus he caught a 15-yard pass for a TD.• Leinart’s passing percentage, efficiency rating, TD passes, interceptions and won-loss record were better than Palmer’s 2002 numbers.• He was third nationally in passing efficiency at 164.5, a USC record and tops in the Pac-10 in 2003. He is the nation’s leading returnee from last season in passing efficiency.• His 38 TD passes was a Pac-10 season record (and the second most by any sophomore in NCAA history).

• In his last 9 games, he threw for 2,632 yards and 30 TDs with just 3 interceptions on 65.5% passing (182-of-278).

• He threw at least 2 TDs in his last 12 games (included was a string of at least 3 TDs in the first 5 of those contests).

• He set a Pac-10 season record with 212 consecutive passes without an interception–stretching over 8 gamesand fell just 4 passes short of the Pac-10 career record.

• His 3,494 yards of total offense was second on the USC season chart.

• He passed for more season yards than any sophomore in USC history, he is the first USC soph to have back-to-back 300-yard passing games and he is the first USC soph to have thrown for 3,000 yards in a season.

2003 Honors–
Leinart was named the 2003 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year (only the second sophomore to win that honor, along with Stanford’s John Elway in 1980) and made the All-Pac-10 first team

Other Honors–

• Collegefootballnews.com All-American first team
• SI.com All-American second team
• Rivals.com All-American honorable mention
• ESPN.com All-Pac-10 MVP
• 1 of 10 semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien Award
• Sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
• Touchdown Club of Columbus’ Archie Griffin Award (nation’s MVP).
• Rose Bowl MVP
• USC team MVP
• USC Player of the Game versus Notre Dame

2002: Leinart was USC’s third-string quarterback as a redshirt freshman in 2002. He appeared briefly late in 3 games (taking 2 snaps at Colorado, directing 3 series at Oregon and taking a snap UCLA), but didn’t throw a pass. He also served as a backup holder on placekicks, but wasn’t called on in that role.

2001: Leinart redshirted as a freshman quarterback in 2001, his first year at USC. He spent the season as the co-backup to Carson Palmer, although he never got into a game.

HIGH SCHOOL: His 2000 honors included Parade All-American, Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, Student Sports Senior All-American, Prep Star Dream Team, Student Sports Top 100, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-Western Region Super 30, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first team, Las Vegas Sun Super 11 first team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Gatorade California Player of the Year, Cal-Hi Sports All-State second team, All-CIF Southern Section first team, All-CIF Division I Co-Offensive MVP, Los Angeles Times All-Orange County Back of the Year, Orange County Register All-Orange County first team and All-Serra League as a senior at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana (Calif.). He completed 192-of-309 passes (62.1%) for 2,870 yards, 28 TDs and 10 interceptions in 2000. Against national champion De La Salle High, he was 31-of-47 for 447 yards and 4 TDs. Mater Dei went 9-3 in 2000.

As a 1999 junior, he was the All-Serra League Offensive MVP while hitting 150-of-233 passes (64.4%) for 2,400 yards with 15 TDs and 6 interceptions. Mater Dei was the CIF Division I co-champion in 1999.

He sat out his 1998 sophomore season with a rotator cuff injury to his left (throwing) shoulder. Current Trojans Matt Grootegoed and Will Collins also prepped at Mater Dei.

PERSONAL: He’s a sociology major at USC with a B- average (2.75 GPA).

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