Ryan Leaf is serious about it this time.
We know this because he has taken a job in the college football backwater of Canyon, Texas. The Division II West Texas A&M Buffaloes don't particularly need a washed-up NFL signal-caller as their quarterbacks coach. They were 10-2 last year, Lone Star Conference champs.
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| Leaf joins a Buffaloes team that went 10-2 in 2005. (Getty Images) |
Leaf needs them because it's time to start a career, to do something with his life, grow up. Living off $11.25 million in bonus money is possible but not preferred for the former Heisman Trophy candidate, who turns 30 on Monday.
"I'm not going to let a five-year snippet of my life define what the next 40 or 50 years are going to be," he told the Indianapolis Star.
That's about all anyone has gotten out of Leaf since he took the job in February. Give him credit. Boy Bust hasn't sought attention or interviews (surprise!). Essentially, he wants to be left alone, all right?
For those of us who were there that afternoon in the Chargers' locker room, that makes perfect sense. Leaf blew up at San Diego Union-Tribune beat writer Jay Posner. Teammates stepped in to grab Leaf and prevent what could have really been an ugly situation.
The incident is preserved on film that might as well be training video for bad-boy athletes.
Just leave me alone, all right!?
"I saw it the other night on TV, 'Top 100 blow-ups,' chuckled Buffaloes coach Don Carthel. "First time I'd ever seen. I don't watch NFL stuff."
That was eight years ago, which is the whole point of Leaf surfacing in the Texas panhandle. Folks really don't care there. Or anywhere. Leaf is choosing to work his way up in profession from the Dust Bowl.
Can there be a more humbling start?
Ryan has little to offer Entertainment Tonight, the NFL Network or The Surreal Life. The most famous quarterback named Leaf these days is his brother Brady, who is fighting for the starting job at Oregon.
