Ryan's song

Sporting News, The, Oct 13, 1997 by Dave Boling

The quarterback in the No. 16 jersey stands in the pocket with such strength that defenders must arrive in packs to have any chance to uproot him.

At times, he throws so hard it threatens to peel the white stripes off the football. In other instances, he drops the ball over a linebacker as delicately as a fisherman lofts a weightless dry fly without a ripple, onto a still pool of water.

Throw in experience in a sophisticated passing attack, and it creates a cogent argument that this man is the best college quarterback in the country

But before you consult your preseason magazine covers and start clearing your throat for a rendition of "Rocky Top," be alerted. The description is not only applicable to Tennessee wunderkind Peyton Manning, who, despite reports to the contrary, has not already won the Heisman. No, the subject here is Washington State's Ryan Leaf.

You know of Manning because he's a senior, plays in the prestigious Southeastern Conference and his father was an NFL quarterback. You don't know of Leaf because he's a junior, plays in the small eastern Washington town of Pullman and his father is an insurance man in Great Falls, Mont.

The point is not to discount the efforts of Manning, a fine quarterback who merits success as karmic payback for the 11 years of abuse his father endured playing for the New Orleans Saints. It's just that Leaf is accomplishing as much, or more, than Manning.

Leaf ranks among the nation's leaders in several offensive categories, and he has pulled off an unprecedented parlay on the Palouse: leading the Cougars to wins over UCLA and USC in the same season. None of his Cougars quarterback antecedents--not Jack "The Throwin' Samoan" Thomp. son, not Mark Rypien, not Timm Rosenbach, not Drew Bledsoe--ever beat the glamourous La-La schools in the same year.

At 6-5 and 238 pounds, Leaf plays with a fist-pumping, Favrerian audacity, having the brass to challenge any defense with any pass. And no one in the country has such a hair-trigger detonator. Consider:

* Leaf passed for 200 yards in the fourth quarter, pushing last year's duel against Washington into overtime, where the Huskies won, 31-24.

* On third-and-12 et their 18 with less than five minutes left in a 20-21 win at USC this year, Leaf shredded the toxic air above LA's ancient Memorial Coliseum for completions of 31 and 51 yards and stunned a secondary that featured a pair of potential All-Americans.

* Against an Illinois team that came at the Cougars with 11 defensive fronts, Leaf threw three fourth-quarter touchdowns to reduce a 7-7 halftime battle to a 35-22 breather.

Player comparisons never can be made in a vacuum, but this is as close as you can get: In the Cougars' opener, Leaf dinged UCLA for 381 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in a 37-34 victory. Against the Bruins the next week, Manning mustered 40 fewer yards with two touchdowns and an interception in a 30-24 Volunteers win.

"I think Ryan's future is as bright as any quarterback's in the country today-bar none," says Thompson, who was a first-round NFL pick and now is a salesman in the Seattle area. "He was always a free-spirited guy with unharnessed talent. But what's coming through for him now is his mental maturation, with a newfound work ethic."

The Pac-10 coaches certainly like Leaf, Arizona State's Bruce Snyder: "Boy, he's a terrific player." UCLA's Bob Toledo calls Leaf "one of the best quarterbacks in the country." And during the broadcast of the UCLA game, ABC announcer Keith Jackson mistakenly called Leaf "Bledsoe."

But not everyone sees the same development curve for Leaf.

"I don's went to sound negative on the guy," one NFL player personnel manager says. "But I think he's got a long way to go; he's still making mistakes and his accuracy isn't what you'd want it to be."

But he grants that Leaf's experience in the Cougars' offense will make him far more NFL-ready than most college quarterbacks.

"Everybody wants to compare him to Bledsoe," the NFL talent evaluator says of the former Cougars great and current New England icon. "But Bledsoe was textbook; his release and mechanics and his understanding of the game were perfect. This guy's no Bledsoe. He's a guy who's on his way but has some more growing to do."

Leaf probably would concur with at least some of that assessment.

"I need to improve on turnovers," he says as Washington State (5-0) continues its Cinderella march against California on Saturday. "I need to know better than to try to throw the ball 50 yards down field when I have defenders on my ankles."

Surely, Leaf's comprehension of the game was displayed against USC, when he audibled out of a running play and into the 51-yard completion that proved the game-winner. And his coach, Mike Price, stresses that toughness never will be an issue with Leaf, who can bench-press 320 pounds, leap 35 inches and has a stubborn aversion for the bench.

"In the first game (UCLA), he had a real bad ankle sprain, but they taped it and he had the courage to go back in and play the whole game," says Price, whose team's start is the best since the 1992 squad began 6-0. "In the second game (USC), he hyperextended his knee unbelievably. He's real strong, and once that adrenaline starts pumping, there's no way he's ever going to pull himself out of a game."