It's Leach's Turn
August 28, 2003 | Football
Aug. 28, 2003
By Chris Huston
Assistant Sports Information Director
The scene: Game five of the 2002 season against Washington State. The hearts and hopes of Trojan fans everywhere sink as two-time All-American strong safety Troy Polamalu goes down with a severe ankle injury on the Cougars' first possession.
With nearly an entire game to go against the high-powered pumas from the Palouse, the Trojan defense appears in desperate straits. After all, the position of strong safety is a vital one in USC coach Pete Carroll's defense.
Enter then-sophomore Jason Leach.
Six tackles and an interception later, Leach shows Trojan fans that he can play, too.
Flash forward to fall of 2003. Polamalu is now suiting up for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And roaming the secondary for USC is Leach, now starting at free safety as a junior.
And from the first whistle on, he's ready to go.
"When I first came here, I knew I would have to wait," said the 5-11, 210-pounder from Bishop Amat High in La Puente, Calif. "I waited and now it's my turn. I just have to take advantage of it."
If anyone knows how to take advantage of a turn, it's Leach. Though he played sparingly last season and only started two games for an injured Polamalu, he led USC in interceptions and also notched 30 tackles and recovered a fumble. In the Orange Bowl, he came through in a big way when Polamalu was out, intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble. If you went back last season and calculated which Trojan made the most big plays per minutes played, Leach's numbers would probably be off the charts. Credit his extensive knowledge of USC's defensive strategies.
"Backwards, forwards, upside down--I know the whole defense," said Leach. "It's great that Coach Carrroll is here, because he has taught me a lot."
It shows in his play. Most of the time, if a reserve safety leads the team in interceptions, it's because he comes in late in a game and picks off Hail Mary passes thrown deep down the center of the field. Not in Leach's case, though. All four of his interceptions came from him making a play on the ball in coverage.
"For the most part, those picks came about from going by Coach Carroll's defense and watching film and learning the routes," said Leach. "It had something to do with me, but mostly it was about Coach Carroll calling the right defense."
When Leach was a senior in high school and looking to make the right call on a college, being a Trojan was not far from the top of his mind. That's because from Pat Haden to Mazio Royster to Rodney Sermons to Daylon McCutcheon, there is a tradition of Amat's finest players wearing the Cardinal and Gold.
"When I started to look at USC, Daylon was already there," said Leach. "Rodney Sermons was here, too, and DeChon Burns, who was my coach at Bishop Amat came here as well. So that carried a lot of weight. Plus, I also really liked (then USC secondary coach) Dennis Thurman, so it was a really easy choice to make."
When he got to USC, he found a future first-round pick in Polamalu playing ahead of him. After redshirting in 2000, he played mostly as a reserve safety and on special teams in 2001, collecting eight tackles. Sharp-eyed Trojan fans could see straight away how much of a big hitter he was-a traditional trait for USC safeties-and how innate and instinctual he was as a player.
"I like to hit," said Leach. "If the ball is in the air and nearby, I'll try to go for it. But if it's out of reach, I'll just hit the person."
Though he's tough on the field, Leach is soft-spoken off of it. He's not one to make his presence known verbally. Actually, it's his hair that often makes his presence known. That's because in the area of crazy hairdos, he more than holds his own with Polamalu, whose Samson-like mane was a fashion staple around USC for the past couple years.
Sometimes Leach wears his hair in braids. Sometimes he wears it puffed up in a huge afro. Sometimes it is parted down the middle and sometimes it's just cropped nice and clean, like in his media guide photo. You just never know what his hair will look like.
"When I first came here, I wore it down low," said Leach. "Then Troy started growing his hair, so I started growing mine. And then (tight end) Dominique (Byrd) and I started going every week to get new hairstyles last year. It worked out pretty good, so we just kept it going."
Besides keeping up on the latest hairstyles, Leach enjoys looking at and working on classic cars....or at least he would he if time permitted.
"What I would love to do is build cars, but there's no time," said Leach. "People don't realize that college football is 24/7 all year round. I love the older muscle cars, the classic ones with the big engines. When I was growing up, I loved to look at them and hear the engine roar, because they sounded so clean. Building cars is just something I would love to do.
"I'd love to put my heart and soul into it and say afterwards, "I did this."
If Jason Leach keeps it up, he'll be able to look back with pride on the 2003 season and say exactly the same thing.
