Matt Leinart Takes Firm Stand as USC Requests to Unretire His Legendary Jersey

Getting a jersey retired is a rare honor. But sometimes, the honor might not stick, apparently. On a recent Throwbacks podcast, co-host Matt Leinart shared a surprising story about his jersey being retired at USC... and potential efforts to "un-retire" that jersey. Leinart's story was an intriguing reminder of the lack of permanence in college football today.

Leinart had an epic career at USC, winning the 2004 Heisman Trophy and leading the Trojans to back-to-back national championships. As part of his brilliant career, USC retired his #11 jersey. USC has retired the numbers of its eight Heisman Trophy winners.

Fortunately, college football boasts a multitude of number possibilities. Some other teams-- most notably, the New York Yankees in MLB-- struggle to accomodate a wealth of retired numbers. The Yankees have no available single-digit numbers, for instance. But USC still has over 90 digits available for use.

Unretiring Leinart's jersey?

But the Trojans have occasionally felt the sting of retiring a number... and they've let Leinart know about it. "There's been multiple times where people at USC have asked me if I would unretire my jersey for some five-star prospect," admitted Leinart. "I said aboslutely not."

Leinart clarified, "I am never going to unretire my jersey for some random dude who by the way now could wear number 11 and then transfer after a year."

He did further clarify that he would give up the number if his son, Cole, who is currently a QB at SMU, played at USC, or if his other sons ever played there.

Five-star requests?

But Leinart shared a funny story about Cole and the approach of different generations to a retired number.

"Cole hit me up a couple years ago," recalled Leinart. "He's like, 'Dad, this linebacker, I think he's going to SC, he wants to wear your jersey. Would you let him wear it?'"

Leinart recalled rejoining the suggestion with a profane reply and laughed, "Absolutely not. Would never do it."

At the pro level, uniform numbers are guarded jealously. There are stories of teammates taking massive payouts from teammates for their lucky or favored jersey numbers. One such notable example is Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, who reportedly paid between $60,000 and $100,000 for jersey number 2 from Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson.

At the end of the day, the retired number goes with its owner. Could USC unretire the jersey? Given that the numbers of OJ Simpson and Reggie Bush remained retired during off-field issues, that seems like a long shot. If the call ultimately belongs to Leinart, he's pretty clear about his thoughts.