You can say that Matt Leinart had it all at USC: He had the defense, he had Reggie Bush, he had Dwayne Jarrett, he had Steve Smith, he had LenDale White, he had Pete Carroll.
That’s the point.
USC was a complete team with Leinart being a very big part of it. Sure, Leinart had help, but his presence at quarterback made the whole thing work. No Leinart, no 34-game winning streak. No Leinart, no back-to-back nationalk championships and a great Rose Bowl performance which easily could have given USC a third straight title, had it not been for Vince Young putting on his Superman cape to rescue the Texas Longhorns.
Leinart’s value to USC emerged the year after he left. John David Booty wasn’t a bad quarterback … but he wasn’t Matt Leinart. USC fell short of the national championship game.
Leinart, who grew up in the 2003 Auburn win and just kept getting better from that point onward, grew into his position at USC and worked hard to gain everything he had.
Yes, he had it all … and he worked to get to that point. That’s the key detail to absorb as we reflect on Leinart’s Heisman Trophy-winning career during “USC Heisman Week.” We celebrate past Trojan Heisman winners before Caleb Williams becomes Heisman winner No. 8 on Saturday evening in New York.
Enjoy this retrospective on Matt Leinart’s shimmering, sparkling USC journey: