University Southern California Trojans
Matt Leinart Quotes
February 25, 2004 | Football
Feb. 25, 2004
"Mike's a great player. I wish him the best, as does the team and coaches. I know he can and will succeed in the NFL. Now, we have to move on. This creates tremendous opportunities for others to move up. Those other guys are excited that their time will now come early.
"Mike was a big part of our offense. He's so tough for defenses because he's such a big threat. We have guys who can fill in, but you can never replace a Mike Williams. It's hard to do what he can do. But I know that Coach Chow and the coaches will work that out.
"Every year in college, you lose players and young guys step up. Look at this past year, when we lost Carson Palmer and our running backs. But we have guys like Steve Smith, who is a great, great receiver, and the other guys back from last year, and the new guys coming in, and they'll all step up. It'll be an interesting battle in the spring.
"Mike had my back from Day One. I respect him for that and thank him for that. Now, my confidence level is high. And now I must assume that leadership role.
"I don't see any letdown with the team. We'll go full go. We won't look back, we'll look to the future."
