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Ryan Leaf, a former Washington State quarterback and No. 2 draft pick of the NFL Draft, whose career has been marked by drug addiction and who has served a prison sentence, has joined ESPN as an analyst. University football.
Leaf, 43, will follow Clay Matvick, play-by-play announcer, according to ESPN. His games will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPU. He worked for the Pac-12 network last season and co-hosted a show on the SiriusXM Pac-12 station.
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"Ryan has had the ups and downs of football, which has allowed him to become familiar with a wide range of situations in which players can find themselves," Lee Fitting, Senior Vice President of Production, said on Sunday. 39; ESPN. "He will be able to build on these experiences – including an incredible academic career where he was an All-American finalist and Heisman Trophy – in his analysis, which makes him a tremendous asset to our team."
Leaf was an American in Washington State and led the Cougars to a Rose Bowl during the 1997 season. He also finished third in the Heisman Trophy vote that year.
ESPN hired Ryan Leaf as a college football analyst, which is another milestone in the remarkable return of the former Washington State star who fought against drug addiction and spent in jail. (Dean Hare / Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, File)
The San Diego Chargers selected Leaf with No. 2 pick in the 1998 draft. However, he would only spend two seasons with the Chargers. His time with the Chargers would be overshadowed because of poor play, cloakroom problems and injuries. He had a stint at the Dallas Cowboys in 2001, but played only four games.
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Leaf is widely regarded as one of the biggest busts in the history of the NFL. He was in the same draft class as Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, Hines Ward, and Charles Woodson.
Years after finishing playing, Leaf was arrested in 2012 for being introduced to a Montana home for stealing prescription drugs and for breaking Texas probation.
After his release from prison in 2014, Leaf found his life and took the necessary steps to get into broadcasting. The former quarterback, who graduated from Murrow School in Washington with a degree in broadcast journalism, followed ESPN's Greg McElroy for a game last season and led an ESPN audition in March. He received the call of the job last month.
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"Five years ago, sitting in a prison cell, I would never have imagined that I would be part of ESPN and Disney Corporation," he told The Associated Press. . "If you'd told me that, I'd have said you were absolutely crazy. And I can not believe it. I drop my head every night with a ton of gratitude. "
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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