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Matt Leinart says USC has asked him to ‘un-retire jersey’ for multiple recruits
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USC legend Matt Leinart says he’s been asked multiple times to “un-retire” his No. 11 jersey for 5-star recruits who wanted to wear that number in college.
The FOX analyst revealed those inquiries in a recent interview with Bakersfield Now. He also said he has denied those requests and has no plans to un-retire his jersey for any player other than one of his sons, should they end up playing football for the Trojans.
“There’s been multiple times where people at USC have asked me if I would un-retire my jersey for some 5-star prospect,” Leinart said in the interview. “And do you know what I told those guys straight up? I am never going to un-retire my jersey for some random dude, who by the way, now could wear No. 11 and then transfer after a year.
“The only person that would ever wear my USC No. 11 would be Cole [Leinart], 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.”
USC has retired the jersey number for all 8 of its Heisman Trophy winners. Leinart won the Heisman in 2004 and also led the Trojans to back-to-back national titles during his career.
This issue has come up at other programs, too. Auburn legend Cam Newton declined to allow then-freshman Deuce Knight to wear his No. 2 jersey number (which hadn’t officially been retired yet) in 2025. Knight started one game for Auburn last season before entering the transfer portal.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.