Ryan Leaf

Leaf did not know that Washington State had not reached the Rose Bowl since 1931, but later told Sports Illustrated that he immediately knew he wanted to accept a scholarship and play for Price.

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 Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) record 33 touchdowns.

He also led the Cougars to their first Pac-10 championship in school history.

Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976) is an American professional football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons.

After leading Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls, Montana, to the 1992 Montana state title, he was told that his build and athleticism was good for a tight end, or maybe a linebacker by the head coach of the time, Dennis Erickson, at the University of Miami.

He chose to be a quarterback for the Washington State Cougars instead after head coach Mike Price, who had coached longtime New England Patriots starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, called him on the phone while Leaf was watching the Rose Bowl, and told him "If you come here, we're going there".

He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.

Leaf played college football with the Washington State Cougars, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy after his junior year.

He was selected as the second overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in the 1998 NFL Draft after Peyton Manning, but his career was shortened due to poor play, bad behavior, injuries, and struggles with his work ethic and ability to stay focused.

After his NFL career ended, Leaf completed his degree at Washington State.

Despite his strong early showing in the 1998 Rose Bowl, Washington State was defeated 21–16 by the eventual Associated Press national champion Michigan Wolverines.

Leaf was a finalist in balloting for the Heisman Trophy that year, which is given annually to the "most outstanding" player in American college football voted in by media figures and former players.

He finished third behind the winner, defensive back Charles Woodson of Michigan, and fellow quarterback Peyton Manning of Tennessee.

He was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and was part of the All-Conference team.

Leaf was also named first-team All-America by The Sporting News while finishing second in the nation in passer rating.

The Rose Bowl helped make him a possible first overall selection in the NFL Draft, and Leaf decided to forgo his senior year at Washington State and enter the 1998 draft.

Peyton Manning and Leaf were widely considered to be the two best players available in the 1998 NFL Draft, and scouts and analysts debated who should be selected first.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy recalled that although his team did not need a quarterback, "Manning-Leaf was really split when you talked to people".

Many, including 14 of 20 NFL coaches and executives in a survey, favored Leaf's stronger arm and greater potential.

Others preferred Manning as the more mature player and safer pick.

Most observers believed that it would not greatly matter whether Manning or Leaf was drafted first because either would greatly benefit his team.

The Indianapolis Colts owned the first draft pick that year.

Team scouts favored Leaf, but Colts president Bill Polian and coaching staff preferred Manning, especially after discovering during individual workouts that he could throw harder than Leaf.

Manning also impressed the team during his interview, while Leaf missed his.

Leaf's draft prospect profile described the player as "self-confident to the point where some people view him as being arrogant and almost obnoxious".

Leaf gained about 20 pounds between the end of his junior season and the NFL Combine in February, which Jerry Angelo, one of six experts Sports Illustrated consulted on the choice, described as "a [negative] signal" about his self-discipline.

All six believed that Manning was the better choice, but the magazine concluded "What does seem reasonably certain is that ... both Manning and Leaf should develop into at least good NFL starters".

The San Diego Chargers had the third overall pick.

Polian told Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard that he would not trade the Colts' pick.

Beathard later said that he would have taken Manning with the first pick because he knew his father Archie Manning, "but that didn't mean there was anything bad that way with Ryan at the time".

His team needed a new quarterback after having scored the fewest touchdowns in the league in the previous season.

He had legal troubles involving drugs beginning in 2010 when a Texas judge sentenced him to 10 years probation.

Two years later, Leaf pleaded guilty to felony burglary and drug possession in Montana.

After a suspended sentence with a stint in drug rehabilitation, Leaf began serving a seven-year sentence in state prison in December 2012.

On September 9, 2014, Leaf was sentenced in Texas to five years in prison for violating his Texas probation by committing the robbery in Montana, but he never served time for this due to receiving credit for time served.

He was released from prison in Montana on December 3, 2014.

In October 2020, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in California and was sentenced to probation.

Leaf has worked as a Program Ambassador for Transcend Recovery Community, a group of sober living houses in Los Angeles, Houston, and New York.

He also hosts a radio show and works as a college football analyst on television.