Matt Leinart posts emotional reaction to major life event: 'I am not okay'

Jeff Hauser

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Matt Leinart posts emotional reaction to major life event: 'I am not okay' image

Former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart shared a rare, emotional glimpse into life away from football this week. He posted about a milestone that resonated with many far beyond the sport.

“My son left for college yesterday. I’m on my way out there now. I am not ok,” Leinart wrote on X. This is the hardest thing that I have ever done. There’s a million emotions running through my mind just hoping I did enough as a dad to prepare him. I think that’s just human.

"I already miss the daily stuff we take for granted, getting him up for school, hanging in our garage playing video games, making him breakfast, etc. Be there for your little ones, soak up every moment you have, never say no and enjoy because it goes way too fast!" 

For a quarterback who once thrived on the sport’s biggest stages, the moment carried added weight. Leinart won two national championships at USC during the program’s dominant 2003-05 run, when the USC Trojans ruled Los Angeles, and really college football at large. Now, more than two decades later, time has come full circle.

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Leinart’s son, Cole, a quarterback from Redondo Beach, California, has left home to begin his own college career with the SMU Mustangs. Cole is Leinart’s oldest child and his first. He was born in 2006 shortly after Leinart was selected 10th overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL draft.

Leinart now has four children. He married actress Josie Loren in 2018, and the couple share three more kids, including a baby girl born last year.

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For a former star accustomed to beating defenses, this moment proved different and was a reminder that we are no match for time. I guess it's true parenthood delivers its toughest tests. 

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Senior Editor