At USC, there are several jersey numbers that hold a special place in the Trojans’ storied football history. Included among those are the eight numbers that USC has retired for its eight Heisman Trophy winners.
One of those jerseys belongs to Matt Leinart. In a recent podcast episode, however, the 2004 Heisman winner and two-time national champion quarterback revealed that the Trojans have tried to convince him to bring his No. 11 out of retirement.
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“There’s been multiple times where people at USC have asked me if I would unretire my jersey for some five-star prospect,” Leinart said. “And do you want to know what I told those guys straight up? I said, ‘Absolutely fucking not.’ I am never going to unretire my jersey for some random dude who by the way now could wear No. 11 and transfer after a year.
“The only person that will ever wear my USC No. 11 would be [my son] Cole, who’s not there right now. He’s at SMU. Or two of my boys if they end up going to USC and playing football. That is it.”
Bringing the jerseys of Heisman winners out of retirement is not unheard of at USC. Leinart’s teammate with the Trojans, safety Darnell Bing, received permission to wear the No. 20 jersey of Mike Garrrett—USC’s first Heisman winner, who was the Trojans’ athletic director at the time. Most recently, wide receiver Jordan Addison wore Carson Palmer’s No. 3 during his brief Cardinal and Gold tenure in 2022.
For Leinart, however, it appears as though his number will not be coming out of retirement anytime soon. Unless, that is, one of his kids winds up playing at USC down the line.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Matt Leinart is not letting anyone at USC wear his No. 11 anytime soon
