Leinart living the life in college, no money needed

In the end, it was all about happiness for USC star quarterback Matt Leinart.

After winning… In the end, it was all about happiness for USC star quarterback Matt Leinart.

After winning a second national championship in as many years as the Trojans’ starting quarterback and locking up a Heisman Trophy last month, the 21-year-old southpaw decided another year of college ball was “ultimately more satisfying” and would “make him happier than any amount of money could make somebody happy,” as he decided to return for his senior year of college next fall.

I didn’t know they still made college athletes like this.

The first attack on Leinart’s decision is that he risks injury by playing another year before making the big bucks in the NFL, as he likely would have been the top overall pick in this April’s draft. He toyed with the decision up until the deadline and sent a crowd of about 500 fans, including his coach Pete Carroll, into jubilation.

“OK, so I’m smiling,” Carroll admitted after the announcement.

And so am I.

Initially, the arguments against him coming back for his senior season seemed to make too much sense. No quarterback has led his team to three straight national championships and only one man — Archie Griffin — has ever won college football’s most prestigious reward more than once. He was a lock to go high in the draft, if for some reason he wasn’t the first overall pick.

On the field, he also had a stellar season, the kind most quarterbacks dream of. He threw for 3,322 yards, 33 touchdowns and six interceptions, a year after he threw for 3,556 yards, 38 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and that was his first year as a starter. This past season’s numbers were accomplished without standout receiver Mike Williams, who was ruled ineligible before the year’s first game.

He is 25-1 as a starter, recently leading the Trojans to a 55-19 blowout win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 by throwing a bowl-record five touchdowns. His 6,878 career passing yards are fourth on the school’s all-time list, and the 71 touchdown passes are behind only Carson Palmer, who Leinart backed up during Palmer’s 2002 Heisman Trophy season.

Few would have blamed him had he left USC’s current 22-game winning streak behind for an NFL team — possibly the San Francisco 49ers, who own the top pick. One of the most highly regarded professional organizations in the world was knocking, and all he had to do was open the door.

What more could a kid from California — who described himself as a “fat and cross-eyed kid with glasses about an inch thick,” in high school — want?

He just wanted happiness. He wanted to play for what Carroll has built into possibly the next great dynasty in college football.

He wanted to stay a kid.

This is becoming one-of-a-kind in college sports nowadays. So many times, athletes with talent like Leinart’s skip out on years of eligibility to go to the pros. Leinart risks the chance of value going down by not jumping to the pros right now, either via injury or poor play. His stock had risen to the top, but instead of cashing in his worth for a luxurious life, he is going to cash in for another year’s worth of textbooks.

Peyton Manning also came back for his final year at Tennessee, and look what he did this past season. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Leinart will break the newly installed single-season touchdown record, but it shows he is in good company.

But what is more, the junior decided to return for the right reasons. When all is said and done, football is still a game and college is still said to be the greatest time of a person’s life. Leinart wasn’t ready for that ride to end, and maybe his decision will inspire others to do the same in years to come.

Criticism of Leinart’s decision has its points, but I find it impossible to criticize anybody who appears as happy and complacent with his life as Leinart does. People may ridicule him for his decision, but somehow, I don’t think it bothers him one bit, because like he said, another year at the college level and another year with his friends is more valuable than any dollar sign the NFL can offer him.

That said, I hope that nothing happens to him as he finishes up what could go down as the greatest career of any college quarterback. USC will surely be the No. 1 team when college football kicks off next fall, and while I am not one for dynasties, I have become a huge Matt Leinart fan because he seems to have his head on straight and he isn’t about to let any organization mess with it.

At least not just yet.

Geoff Dutelle is the assistant sports editor of The Pitt News, and he thought it was great to see a kid make a choice as Leinart did. E-mail him at gdues_pittnews@hotmail.com.