Matt Leinart unveils astonishing USC football observation after attending practice
By Evan Desai
Matt Leinart showed up at USC football spring practice on Thursday, and had quite the observation to share on Twitter:
When Leinart is talking about "a new energy and buzz around this staff," it's real. Leinart was here during a time where there truly was "a new energy and buzz around" the coaching staff. That was when he played for SC under Pete Caroll in the early-to-mid 2000's.
In his second year as a Trojan, Leinart's SC team won an Orange Bowl. The next three years went like this: National Championship W, National Championship W, National Championship appearance. Leinart was the starting QB of all three teams. Two of those three years, SC won Heisman Trophies. Leinart took home one of them.
Matt Leinart has seen USC football transform itself back into an elite program before.
It's why it means everything that Matt Leinart sees USC football in the same light this time around. Leinart arrived to USC in the offseason when it hired Pete Carroll. He watched and participated as USC found out that they hired arguably the best (year-for-year) head coach in college football history, and turned into what was at the time the best college football program in history.
Leinart had been very critical of SC in the last few years, when the program left its previously dominant state. When Sam Darnold left, many problems from others that were masked in that time with the program were fully exposed. There were issues within the athletic administration, issues within the coaching staff, and issues within the culture.
Leinart did NOT stay silent as he watched these problems unfold. To see him have a clear change of heart obviously means that something has shifted in Troy. Hopefully what Leinart is seeing correlates to in-game success as early as the 2022 season starts. If so, that will expedite the process of getting back to what SC football is all about.