Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983), is an American professional football quarterback who is currently a free agent. Leinart previously played for four seasons (2006–2009) with the Arizona Cardinals, largely in a backup role to the now-retired Kurt Warner, before being released on September 4, 2010. He also played for the Houston Texans.

Leinart played college football at the University of Southern California. In 2004, he led the Trojans to the BCS national championship and was named that year's winner of the Heisman Trophy as well as the winner of the inaugural Manning Award, which is awarded to the country's top quarterback. The championship was vacated by the BCS on June 6, 2011.

The left-handed passing Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Despite possessing what draft experts believed was a good frame for a quarterback (6'-5”, 230 pounds), they believed his lack of a strong throwing arm, such as that possessed by his predecessor, Carson Palmer (now with the Oakland Raiders), would be a detriment in his professional career.

After Kurt Warner's retirement, Leinart was named the presumptive starter. However, he lost the starting job in training camp to veteran Derek Anderson, who signed with the Cardinals as a free agent before the 2010 season.

After some speculation, Leinart agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Texans on September 6, 2010. On November 14, 2011, it was announced starting QB Matt Schaub had injured his foot and was out a few weeks, as of November 14, coach Gary Kubiak planned on Leinart starting the next game after the bye week versus Jacksonville. Later on in the day it was announced that Schaub would be out for the season and that Matt Leinart would be the starting QB for the season. Leinart was injured against the Jaguars on November 27, 2011 breaking his collarbone, which ended his season.

Early years
Matt Leinart was born in Santa Ana, California. He was born with strabismus (“crossed eyes”), as his left eye was not aligned correctly with his right. He underwent surgery when he was three years old and was fitted with special glasses to correct the problem, but the eyewear combined with Leinart's already-overweight frame made him an easy target for ridicule at the hands of other children. “I used to get made fun of for being cross-eyed. It's just a terrible thing because kids are so cruel to the fat kid, to the kid with the glasses. So I turned to sports,” he would later say.

Leinart attended Mater Dei High School and was a letterman in football. As a junior, he led his team to a California Interscholastic Federation Division I co-championship, and was named the Serra League's Offensive Most Valuable Player. Wearing number 7, he was chosen as the Gatorade California high school football player of the year.

As one of the nation's top college football recruits, Leinart committed to USC under coach Paul Hackett, noting that a major factor was offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. However, after Hackett and most of his staff were fired in 2000, Leinart considered other programs such as Georgia Tech and Arizona State and visited Oklahoma before USC eventually hired Pete Carroll.

College career
Leinart redshirted in 2001. As a freshman the next year he understudied senior quarterback Carson Palmer, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and join the Cincinnati Bengals. Leinart appeared in only a few plays in 2002 and threw no passes.

As a sophomore in 2003 Leinart beat out Matt Cassel, a redshirt junior who backed up Palmer in 2002, and Purdue transfer Brandon Hance for the starting job at quarterback. Going into the season, Carroll and his coaching staff selected Leinart not because he had set himself significantly ahead of the pack in practice, but because they needed a starting quarterback. When the coaching staff told Leinart he would be the starter, he replied, "You're never going to regret this." There was some thought in the press that Leinart would merely hold the starting position until highly-touted true freshman John David Booty, who had bypassed his senior year in high school to attend USC, could learn the offense.

His first career pass was a touchdown against Auburn. Leinart would win the first three games of his career before the then-No. 3 Trojans suffered a 34–31 triple-overtime defeat at California on September 27 that dropped the Trojans to No. 10.

Leinart and the Trojans bounced back the next week against Arizona State. Leinart injured his knee in the second quarter and was not expected to play again that day, but he returned to the game and finished 12-of-23 for 289 yards in a 37–17 victory.

Leinart and the Trojans won their final eight games and finished the regular season 11–1 and ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches' polls. However, USC was left out of the BCS championship game after finishing third in the BCS behind Oklahoma and LSU. The Trojans went to the Rose Bowl and played University of Michigan. Leinart was named the Rose Bowl MVP after he went 23-of-34 for 327 yards, throwing three touchdowns and catching a touchdown of his own. The Trojans finished No. 1 in the AP Poll, winning the AP national championship.

In 13 starts, Leinart was 255 for 402 for 3,556 yards and 38 TDs with 9 INTs. He finished sixth in the Heisman voting.

Junior and Senior seasons
The Trojans started Leinart's junior season (2004) with victories in their first three games. On September 25, the Trojans played Stanford University. After Stanford took a 28–17 halftime lead, Leinart sparked the offense with a 51-yard pass to Steve Smith and scored on a one-yard sneak to cut the Cardinal lead to four points. Leinart and the Trojans were able to take the lead on a LenDale White touchdown rush and hold on for the victory, 31–28. Leinart completed 24 of 30 passes.

He finished the final regular season game against UCLA, but was held without a touchdown pass for the first time in 25 starts. Nonetheless, Leinart was invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony, along with teammate Reggie Bush, Oklahoma's freshman sensation Adrian Peterson, incumbent Jason White, and Utah's Alex Smith. In what many had considered one of the more competitive Heisman races, Leinart became the sixth USC player to claim the Heisman Trophy.

In 2004, USC went wire-to-wire at No. 1 in the polls and earned a bid to the BCS title game at the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma, which was also 12–0. A dream matchup on paper (including White vs. Leinart, which was to be the first time two Heisman winners would play against each other), the Orange Bowl turned out to be a rout, as Leinart threw for five touchdown passes on 18-for-35 passing and 332 yards to lead the Trojans to a 55–19 victory. Leinart received Orange Bowl MVP honors and the Trojans claimed their first BCS national championship and second straight No. 1 finish in the AP, extending their winning streak to 22 games. This victory and BCS championship was vacated as a result of the Reggie Bush scandal.

The 2005 Trojans again had a perfect 12–0 regular season. Against Notre Dame, Leinart threw for a career-high 400 yards. After an incomplete pass and a sack led to a fourth-and-nine situation with 1:36 left—at the Trojans' own 26-yard line, Leinart called an audible "slant and go" route at the line of scrimmage and threw deep against the Irish's man-to-man coverage, where Dwayne Jarrett caught the ball and raced to the Irish' 13-yard line, a 61-yard gain. Leinart moved the ball to the goal line as time dwindled and scored on a QB sneak that gave the Trojans a 34–31 lead with three seconds to go, giving the Trojans their 28th straight victory and one of the most memorable and dramatic finishes in the history of the Notre Dame – USC rivalry.

Leinart, who was having arguably a better season than in 2004, was again invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony along with teammate Reggie Bush and Texas quarterback Vince Young. As a former Heisman winner, Leinart cast his first-place vote for Bush, and ended up third in the voting behind Bush (since vacated) and runner-up Young.

The Trojans advanced to the Rose Bowl to face Vince Young and No. 2 Texas in the BCS title game. The title game was considered another "dream matchup." Leinart himself had a great game, going 29-of-40 for a touchdown and 365 yards, but was overshadowed by Young, who piled up 467 yards of total offense and rushed for three touchdowns, including a score with 19 seconds remaining and two-point conversion to put the Longhorns ahead, 41–38. The Trojans lost for the first time in 35 games, and Leinart for just the second time in his 39 career starts.

After graduation, Leinart's #11 jersey was retired at USC.

Career
Leinart finished his college career with 807 completions on 1,245 attempts (64.8% completion percentage) for 10,693 yards and 99 touchdowns with just 23 interceptions. He is USC's all-time leader in career touchdown passes and completion percentage, and is second at USC behind Palmer in completions and yardage. He averaged nearly 8.6 yards per attempt, and averaged only one interception every 54 attempts. He was 37–2 as a starter.

Stats

 * 2003: 255/402 (63.4%) for 3556 yards and 38 TD vs. 9 INT. 32 carries for -62 yards and 0 TD.
 * 2004: 269/412 (65.3%) for 3322 yards and 33 TD vs. 6 INT. 49 carries for -44 yards and 3 TD.
 * 2005: 283/431 (65.7%) for 3815 yards and 28 TD vs. 8 INT. 51 carries for 36 yards and 6 TD.

2006 NFL Draft
Leinart was considered one of the top prospects in the 2006 NFL Draft class. Standing 6'5" (1.96 m) and weighing 225 pounds (100 kg) and a left-handed thrower, he was considered the prototypical NFL quarterback in terms of size but with a weak arm.

Leinart was selected tenth overall in the 2006 Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.

Arizona Cardinals
Leinart was involved in a prolonged holdout with the Cardinals on August 8, 2006. However, on August 14, Leinart agreed to a six-year, $51 million contract, becoming the very last member of the draft to sign a contract, and not before Cardinal Coach Dennis Green said that he had lost his patience. Despite signing late, Leinart played in the second quarter of the exhibition game against the New England Patriots on August 19.

During the fourth week of the NFL season, unofficial sources projected that Leinart would take over as the starting quarterback, due to a poor performance by Kurt Warner in the previous game. During the week, coach Green held a conference and specifically stated that Warner would still start that week's game. Leinart threw for 2 touchdown passes in his first start.

In Week 6 against the 5-0 Chicago Bears, Leinart threw for 2 touchdown passes in the first half, but the Bears came back in the second half to win 24-23.

In a November 26 game, he set an NFL rookie record with 405 passing yards in a loss to the 6-10 Minnesota Vikings. His quarterback rating was 74.0. He suffered a sprained left shoulder (throwing arm) in a week 16 win over the San Francisco 49ers. In 11 starts, Leinart threw for 2,547 yards and 11 touchdowns. He finished the season with a 4–7 record.

Leinart opened the 2007 season on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers as the starting quarterback. After a sequence of quarters in which the offense stalled, Whisenhunt began to insert Warner as a situational quarterback. On October 7, 2007, Leinart suffered a fractured left collarbone after being sacked by St. Louis Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon. Three days later, he was placed on injured reserve, ending his season. In his first 2 NFL seasons, Leinart had suffered two season-ending injuries within a period of 5 sacks. With Warner at the helm for the remainder of the season, the Cardinals mounted a late-season surge and won five of their final 8 games. In 11 starts in 2007, Warner completed 281 of 451 attempts (62.3%) for 3,417 yards, 27 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, and passer rating of 89.8.

In Leinart's second season with Arizona, he started 5 games and completed 53.6% of his passes (60/112) and threw for 647 yards, 5.8 yards per attempt, 2 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. His passer rating was 61.9. He averaged 129 yards and 0.4 touchdowns per start.

In the 2008 offseason, after he recovered from the injury, Leinart was handed his starting job back, but his hold on the job was tenuous after another strong training camp performance by Warner. Finally, after Leinart threw 3 interceptions within a matter of minutes versus the Oakland Raiders in the third preseason game, Kurt Warner was named the opening-day starter. Leinart picked up only a limited number of snaps in mop-up duty behind Warner. For the 2008 season, he completed 15 of 29 passing attempts (51.7%), 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and a 80.2 passer rating.

In 2009, Leinart continued his role as back-up for Warner, who started all but one regular season game.

In 2010, he was named the presumptive starter after Warner's retirement; however, he lost the starting job in training camp to Derek Anderson. The Cardinals released Leinart on September 4, two days after the final preseason game, in favor of Anderson and rookies Max Hall and John Skelton.

Houston Texans
On September 6, 2010, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Leinart signed a one year contract to back up Matt Schaub with the Houston Texans. Since Schaub played all sixteen games, Leinart did not play at all during the 2010 season. During the 2011 offseason, despite speculation that he would sign with the Seattle Seahawks, who are coached by Leinart's college coach Pete Carroll, to compete for a starting job, Leinart ultimately agreed to return to Houston as a backup for the 2011 season. However in week 10, Schaub injured his right foot and the Texans named Leinart their starter. Leinart started for the first time during week 12 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, however he was injured fracturing his collarbone during the first half and replaced by rookie QB T.J Yates. At this point in his career, Leinart has suffered 3 season-ending injuries (2006, 2007, 2011) within his last 8 starts.

On March 12, 2012, Leinart was released by Houston.

Personal life
Leinart's son, Cole Cameron Leinart, was born on October 24, 2006 in California. The mother of Leinart's son is former USC women's basketball player Brynn Cameron. Leinart broke up with Cameron before the baby was born. Though they had a dispute over child support early on, they have since settled their differences and Leinart now has a regular schedule for seeing his son.

Television and film appearances
Matt Leinert made an appearance on the May 1, 2006 episode of Punk'd, featuring Ashton Kutcher as the host. He also has appeared in several commercials on television, most notably for ABC's hit-sitcom Desperate Housewives and Nike's "Football is Everything" commercial as the backup quarterback on the sidelines holding a clipboard. He also starred in an NFL Sunday Ticket commercial with the Manning family (Peyton and Eli are surprised that father Archie is helping him with his throwing, only to have Archie say that "he always wanted a lefty"). In 2007, he appeared in the NFL Shop commercial with Steven Jackson and Adam Vinatieri where he threw an Arizona Cardinals throw blanket to a fan who made a diving catch. Leinert appeared in seven episodes of Rome is Burning in 2006-07, Jimmy Kimmel Live after winning BCS title game (2005), and the 2008 film The House Bunny. He later appeared in support of a long-time friend who competed on The Biggest Loser 2010. Leinart was also a diner in a Hell's Kitchen episode on the Fox Network in 2011.

2004

 * Heisman Trophy Winner
 * Rose Bowl MVP
 * Walter Camp Award
 * AP player of the year
 * Touchdown Club Manning Award
 * Touchdown Club QB of the Year
 * Victor Award (Player of the Year)
 * James E. Sullivan Award Finalist
 * Newport college player of the year
 * AP All-American first team
 * Football Coaches All-American first team
 * ESPN, CSTV, Rivals.com, SI.com, and CFBNews first team All-American
 * Pac-10 Co-offensive player of the year
 * ESPN.com player of the year
 * Rivals.com player of the year
 * Pre-season All-American

2005

 * Orange Bowl MVP
 * Unitas Award
 * Finalist for Heisman Trophy
 * All-American Offensive Player
 * LA Sports Sportsman of the Year
 * Sporting News Sportsman of the Year
 * National Championship MVP