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CJ Leak just wants to win games

by Tony Basilio

They say the mark of a man’s character is the way he handles adversity. If that’s true, then University of Tennessee quarterback CJ Leak has an abundance of character. Leak recently lost his starting job as Tennessee’s QB. His handling of the situation revealed a level of commitment that should inspire us all.

When Leak came out of Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C. back in ’99, he was a Super Prep All-American. He was also the most highly touted football prospect to ever sign with Wake Forest. But three games into the 2000 season, Leak, then a sophomore starter at QB, blew out a knee. The injury was so extensive that his career seemed in doubt.

In 2001, Leak transferred to UT, where he sat out and rehabbed. When his knee injury healed, he found limited opportunities to play behind starter Casey Clausen. In the playing time he did manage, it became apparent that he was a shell of the mobile, talented quarterback he had once been. The injury had robbed Leak of much of his physical ability. Worse yet, it robbed him of his confidence. His ease and grace on the field was replaced by a never-ending panic in the pocket. Leak lost “it.”

Still, he toiled behind Clausen for two years, including a start at Georgia in ’02. It was in this game that Leak was truly exposed as the limited quarterback he had become, forever cursed with the after-effects of his devastating injury. A few series into the game, UT coach Phil Fulmer—who was in the process of wooing Leak’s hot shot younger brother Chris—found himself in an unenviable position; he would either let CJ play the rest of the day at Georgia and take a beating, or insert James Banks and try and win the game. Fulmer chose the latter. It was a decision that would forever strain UT’s relationship with the Leak family.

Curtis Leak, who was orchestrating his younger son’s recruiting, publicly challenged Fulmer’s decision to pull his son from that game. The elder Leak’s venom for UT spilled over into the off-season, where he chose his son Chris’s ESPN.com diary to challenge Fulmer’s character. Daddy Leak accused Fulmer of lying to the family, of misleading both CJ and Chris. It didn’t make matters easier when the youngest Leak went on to sign with Tennessee’s hated rival, Florida. His older son was placed in a compromising position by Curtis Leak’s reckless outspokenness. Still, CJ continued to work hard, and never complained about his treatment at UT.

His handling of that regretful episode is part and parcel of Leak’s M.O. in the face of adversity. He simply worked, minded his business and held his teammates’ interests ahead of his own ambitions. If only his father could say the same thing.

Fast forward to April of ’04. A steady, yet not overly impressive effort won Leak UT’s starting quarterback slot in spring workouts. He survived the challenge of less-than-stellar candidates like Rick Clausen, Bo Hardegree and Jim Bob Cooter. The quarterback job was his to lose in August, and he worked steadfastly over the summer in preparation for the challenge brought by a pair of talented newcomers.

Leak seemed primed for the opportunity. Yet it took roughly eight days of contact work for him to relinquish his top spot to freshmen Eric Ainge and Brent Schaeffer. The bottom line is that Leak was beaten out by guys with more physical ability. His competitors for the starting spot were kids who have the kind of play-making ability he possessed before his injury. How humiliating must it have been for Leak to last not even one game, not even a quarter, not so much as a single series as UT’s top QB?

But when given the news of his demotion following a practice late last week, Leak was all class. He went to Coach Fulmer with a request.

“I’m sure it hurt his feelings,” Fulmer said. “He came back a few minutes after I told him and said, ‘I’ll play safety, linebacker or tight end. I’ll do whatever I can do to help this football team.’” That reaction is what sets Leak apart in the age of the me-first athlete.

To show his commitment, Leak worked the next two practices exclusively at safety. It is a position he hopes to grasp quickly. “I know there is a need there,” he said. “I also know that I’m athletic enough to play back there. I just want to help us win games. This isn’t about me. It’s about The University of Tennessee and winning.” That’s CJ Leak. That’s character.

Tune in and talk sports with Tony Basilio weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN Radio WVLZ 1180 AM.

August 26, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 35 © 2004 Metro Pulse