Leak could use a little luck in his last look

Sporting News, The, August 9, 2004 by Matt Hayes

C.J. Leak has one last chance to salvage his football career. Chris Leak just insured his for millions. That's where this story begins and ends. There's really no way around it.

Chris Leak has a load of cash to fall back on, should his bright future at Florida suddenly and with a career-ending injury. How much? Curtis Leak, the father of the sons and the purchaser of the policy, won't say. Keith Lerner, the nation's leading private insurer of college athletes, says a Chris Leak policy is worth at least $2 million to $3 million. Had Maurice Clarett's case against the NFL not been overturned, Lerner says Leak's policy would've topped out at $5 million.

I rattled off those numbers to C.J. Leak, and there was a noticeable pause. It was four years if it was four seconds.

"If I had known then what I know now" C.J. says, "maybe this would be a different story."

Instead, it's a story of four years gone awry, a story of scattered dreams and shattered hopes, of monotonous rehab and painstaking patience. C.J. Leak was once a heralded recruit just like his little brother. Now he's just trying to hold on at Tennessee.

Everyone wanted the big kid with the big arm in 1999, and he eventually signed with Wake Forest, of all teams. He would stay close to his Charlotte home and turn around the fortunes in Winston-Salem. Three games into his sophomore season, he tore nearly every ligament in his right knee and suffered hamstring and calf damage when hit high and low by Clemson defenders.

So please, don't think a couple of hotshot recruits arriving this week at Tennessee are going to derail this comeback story. "I had a doctor tell me I wouldn't play again" C.J. says. "What could be harder to take than that?"

If this were a classic comeback tale, C.J. would win the starting job and run out of Neyland Stadium on September 18 to play against his brother in one of the SEC's biggest rivalries. But it's not, and more than anything, there's too much precedent to ignore. Twice in the past decade, Tennessee has begun the season with a projected first-year starter--once a senior--only to have a true freshman take over by the end of September.

Jerry Colquitt waited behind Heath Shuler and began his senior season as the projected starter before injuring his knee in the 1994 season opener. Some freshman named Manning took over for the next four years. In 2000, after waiting behind Tee Martin, Joey Matthews started as a sophomore and eventually was replaced by four-year starter Casey Clausen.

Now comes C.J. Leak, so renewed from relentless rehab that he has broken every strength and conditioning record for UT quarterbacks. So invigorated by his second chance, he has to pull back at times in practice because his strong arm is too much for receivers.

Yet he is in no better shape in the quarterback competition than freshmen Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer. Despite all of Leak's progress, no one at UT really knows what it has. After the spring game, offensive coordinator Randy Sanders graded the quarterbacks a "C." Coach Phillip Fulmer said championships have been won where "the quarterback wasn't your best player."

And finally, this from team captain and star linebacker Kevin Burnett: "Some quarterbacks don't deal well with people breathing down their neck. We'll see what it does to C.J."

Certainly far from ringing endorsements. Then again, Leak never really has been given a chance to succeed. Two years ago, he started the Georgia game for an injured Clausen and was replaced early in the first quarter by freshman James Banks because the Vols were struggling on offense. That snub convinced Chris Leak to back off of the Vols in the recruiting process and embrace Florida. In 1999, as a ninth grader, Chris committed to Wake Forest because he wanted to play with C.J., and there was little doubt Tennessee was No. 1 on his list in 2002.

Instead of competing with his brother for the starting spot, C.J. Leak is hearing about Ainge's strong arm and classic pocket skills, about Schaeffer's accuracy, athleticism and escapability. Truth is, Fulmer would rather play Leak; he'd rather not be concerned about the center-quarterback exchange, limiting the playbook and eliminating audibles. His philosophy is basic: control the ball and don't make turnovers--two things freshmen quarterbacks rarely master.

The Vols lost four games in both Manning's and Clausen's first seasons. No matter how well these current freshmen play in fall camp, the Vols likely will start the season with Leak. That's just the way Fulmer works. Midway through September--when Florida and Chris roll into town--C.J.'s comeback story will take a defining turn one way or the other.

Earlier this summer, Jefferson-Pilot Television released a four-part series on college football titled Football Saturdays in the South. The series includes features on legendary coaches and players of the SEC and ACC and introduces up-and-coming stars. One such feature was the rise of Chris Leak, and the feature included C.J. and Chris playing a college football video game.