A Kid Again

Did you see him?

The Million-Dollar Crazy?

That was Matt Leinart, college football’s most valuable commodity, sprinting out of the USC backfield Saturday night like a giddy child running from his parents.

That was Leinart, racing downfield, around tacklers, the galloping galoot, 17 yards to the goal line.

That was Leinart, flopping into the end zone with a huge hairy smile, having scored the longest rushing touchdown of his career.

“My brother was like, ‘Dude, you got to get down!’ ” said Leinart, still grinning days later. “I’m like, ‘Dude, what do you want me to do?’ ”

What Trojan fans want Leinart to do is stay healthy.

What NFL teams want him to do is stay smart.

What Leinart wants to do is something else entirely.

Three weeks into his six-month game of Risk, Leinart has made it clear that he didn’t turn down a lucrative NFL contract to become a symbol or statue.

He came back to swagger.

He came back to grow a scraggly beard and run salty plays and hit soaring homers.

The kid, bless him, really did come back to be a kid.

Refreshing, and frightening.

“I came back to have fun,” Leinart said this week. “And that’s all I’m doing.”

Have you watched him?

Can you tell the difference?

In his first two seasons as a starter, with the rare Colorado State exception, Leinart rarely left the pocket.

Quick drops, quick passes, ultimate protection.

At times, he seemed less a quarterback than a statue. People said it. Leinart heard it.

It hurt.

“I know everybody says I’m a bad athlete,” he said. “They say I can’t run, that I’m not fast, that I’m just a bad athlete.”

So? You’re the Heisman Trophy winner, what do you care?

“So I know what I can do, I know I can run, I know I’m not just a statue,” he said.

So now you want to prove it to everyone?

“Yeah, sort of,” he said.

Even at the risk of injuring yourself?

“Do I think I’m going to run over people?” he said. “Dude, I’m not stupid.”

Regardless, Leinart, whose only class this semester is ballroom dancing, has played the first two games with a mosh-pit mentality.

He rolls out more. He is alone on more bootlegs. He used to simply direct the offense. Now he runs it.

In his first season as a starter, he did not run for a touchdown.

In his second season, he had three rushing touchdowns, all of one yard, none after the sixth game.

This season, he’s already had the 17-yard touchdown run, and people are noticing.

“He is way more agile this year,” Trojan guard Fred Matua said. “It’s funny to see him running around like that.”

So Leinart turns down a chance to be the NFL’s top pick -- and earn the $10 million or so that goes with it -- because he says he wanted to enjoy college for one more football season. And sure enough, he becomes all frat boy, with a bit of idealism, a dash of recklessness and a feeling of invincibility.

It’s a fun story. But it could become an ugly one. Opponents are taking more shots at him this year. The hits are coming later. Every time he rolls out alone, there is danger of injury.

And with injury would come the end of USC’s chances to cap what would arguably be the best three consecutive seasons in college football history.

This may be Reggie Bush’s team, but it’s Matt Leinart’s season, and the Trojans cannot win without him.

“Sure, I was worried when he took off to the end zone,” Coach Pete Carroll said. “But I trust him. He knows what he is doing.”

Leinart agrees. He’s like, relax dude.

“When the time comes, I’m not going to try to juke some dude, I’ll get down,” he said. “I’m just trying to make plays, to add another dimension to our offense.”

But does an all-universe offense really need another dimension?

“I don’t think he’s that different from last year,” Carroll said. “What you’re seeing is, he plays really fast this year because he knows what he’s doing.”

Certainly, give Leinart credit for being perhaps the only college quarterback in the country to spend spring practice studying NFL tapes.

“When he decided to come back, we had to figure out a way to help him keep growing here, and that was one of the ways,” said quarterbacks guru Steve Sarkisian. “He has seen so many defenses now, he can react to each wrinkle.”

And surely, give his offensive line credit for progressing to the point where he has the time to take chances.

“This is all a process, and everyone has grown to the point where I can do more things,” Leinart said.

And, yes, applaud him for playing at an entirely different level than any other quarterback in the country, Texas’ Vince Young included. The numbers startle, even if Hawaii and Arkansas didn’t.

He has thrown 48 passes and missed on just 12? One touchdown for every five completions? Nearly 20 yards per completion?

“He’s just playing football, and you never want to hinder a guy from doing what he loves,” Sarkisian said.

But would it be so awful if somebody asked him to, you know, be careful?

“I never think I’m going to get hurt, I can’t think that,” Leinart said. “If I played scared, it’s not going to do us any good.”

Leinart is loaded with insurance, covering everything from physical collapses to draft-order drops.

But there are no policies that cover a failure to fulfill destiny.

“It’s all about making smart decisions,” Leinart said. “As long as I make smart decisions, I’ll be fine.”

Last winter, he made a terrific decision. This fall, he’s obviously made another one.

Last winter, excited Trojan fans lost their breath.

This fall, they will hold it.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)Class of 2005

A look at the status of quarterbacks taken in the first four rounds of the 2005 NFL draft:

Jason Campbell (Auburn)

First round; Washington

* No. 3 on depth chart, behind Mark Brunell and Patrick Ramsey.

Aaron Rodgers (Cal)

First round; Green Bay

* Fell to No. 24 pick on draft day and is No. 2 on depth chart behind Brett Favre.

Alex Smith (Utah)

First round; San Francisco

* No. 2 on depth chart behind Tim Rattay,

0 for 1 passing in limited playing time.

Charlie Frye (Akron)

Third round; Cleveland

* Has moved up to No. 2 on depth chart behind Trent Dilfer.

David Greene (Georgia)

Third round; Seattle

* No. 3 on depth chart behind Matt Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace.

Andrew Walter (Arizona State)

Third round; Oakland

* No. 3 on depth chart behind Kerry Collins and Marques Tuiasosopo.

Stefan LeFors (Louisville)

Fourth round; Carolina

* No. 3 on depth chart behind Jake Delhomme and Chris Weinke.

Kyle Orton (Purdue)

Fourth round; Chicago

* Only starter from draft. Ranks 22nd in NFL in passer rating at 74.4 (29 of 49, 291 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).

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On the run

Matt Leinart’s rushing statistics at USC. A sack counts as a rushing attempt in college football:

*--* 2003 2004 2005 Rush 32 49 4 Yards -62 -44 7 Average -1.9 -0.9 1.8 TD 0 3 1 Sacks 14 24 2

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.