Ryan Leaf - College Career

College Career

After having led his high school, Charles M. Russell High School, to the 1992 Montana state title, Leaf considered playing college football as a linebacker at Miami. He chose to be a quarterback for the Washington State Cougars after head coach Mike Price, who had coached Drew Bledsoe, promised Leaf that he would play in the Rose Bowl Game. (Leaf did not know that the Cougars had last appeared at the Rose Bowl in 1931.)

He played in 32 games for Washington State, starting 24 of them. In his junior year, he averaged 330.6 yards passing per game and threw for a then Pac-10 conference record 33 touchdowns. He also helped the Cougars defeat the Washington Huskies 41-35 for the first time in Husky Stadium since 1985. Leaf helped bring the Cougars their first Pac-10 championship in school history. Despite a strong early showing by Leaf in the 1998 Rose Bowl, the Cougars were defeated 21-16 by the eventual national champion Michigan Wolverines. In 2011, Leaf published a memoir of this season, entitled 596 Switch.

That year, Leaf was a finalist in balloting for the Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the "most outstanding" player in American college football, as voted on by media figures and former players. He finished third in voting, behind winner Charles Woodson of Michigan, and fellow quarterback Peyton Manning of Tennessee. Leaf also was selected as the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, was named first-team All-American by The Sporting News, and finished second in the nation in passer rating. Following the Rose Bowl, Leaf announced that he would forego his senior year at Washington State and enter the 1998 NFL Draft.