Quarterback to USC: No, You Can't Unretire My Jersey

Matt Leinart is keeping his number on ice—permanently. The former USC star says the school has come to him multiple times asking if his retired No. 11 jersey could be brought back for a coveted recruit, and his answer hasn't wavered: no. "I said, 'absolutely f---ing not.' I am never going to unretire for some random dude, who by the way, now could wear No. 11 and transfer after a year," Leinart said on his Throwbacks podcast, reports ESPN. The only exception would be if one of his three sons played at USC, he added. Leinart is legend at the school: He won the Heisman in 2004 and led the team to national championships in 2003 and 2004, notes the Athletic.

It's not about money, Leinart made clear. "You're gonna tell me I'm gonna take a million dollars from an 18-year-old kid? No. It's not for sale," he said, before referencing the new era of college ball. "That kid, probably the chance of him staying at USC after two years, is slim anyway. So it ain't happening, bro." The comments have generated a lot of talk in the world of college sports, but Mark Harris at the Outkick thinks Leinart is right. "This is the correct response," he writes. "Handing over his jersey number to a player who could end up leaving the program at any given notice would be absurd."