Ryan Leaf offers words of inspiration to Missouri football

When it comes to experiencing the highs and lows of playing football, few have experienced it quite like Ryan Leaf did during his college football career with the Washington State Cougars and his NFL career with the San Diego Chargers.

While he enjoyed a prolific college career, his NFL career went down as one of the biggest disappointments in NFL history. He was selected as the No. 2 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, but he was a colossal bust on the next level for a variety of reasons.

Following his playing days, he had a highly publicized battle with opioids that lasted for several years. Leaf even had to spend 32 months in prison at one point. On Sunday, the former Pac-10 star took some time on Sunday to speak with the Missouri Tigers’ squad about the many lessons he learned during his turbulent career.

Check out the pictures below.

Thank you to @CoachDrinkwitz and @MizzouFootball for the opportunity to be of service! #soberlife pic.twitter.com/20d5xsxZVS

— Ryan D Leaf (@RyanDLeaf) August 21, 2023

Leaf spoke to the Missouri football team to say a few words at the team’s “Welcome Back BBQ”.

Leaf has been a mental health advocate for quite some time. He also hasn’t been shy about sharing the story of his struggles over the years. He has been sober for 11 years.

Ryan Leaf was dominant his final two years at WSU

As a player, Leaf was dominant during his final year with the Washington State Cougars and he enjoyed a very successful junior year, too. He hung up his cleats there with 7,433 passing yards, ranking him sixth in school history, just ahead of Drew Bledsoe on the school’s all-time passing yardage list. Leaf certainly left his mark in Pullman and his name is still all over the Cougar record books even though his playing career there ended more than 25 years ago.

Leaf saved his best stuff for his last year at WSU, racking up numerous accolades after he completed 55.4 percent of his passes for 3,968 passing yards, while tossing 34 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He won nearly every award imaginable, including being named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year (1997), first team All-American, and first team All-Pac-10. Leaf’s senior season was so good that he even finished as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy that year, finishing third behind Charles Woodson and Peyton Manning.

The Montana native also guided the Cougars to their first Pac-10 Championship in school history. Washington State battled valiantly, but fell 21-16 to the eventual national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, in the 1998 Rose Bowl.

In his post-football life, Ryan Leaf has been doing a variety of podcasting and sports broadcasting appearances over the past several years, along with various speaking engagements.

If you’d like to listen to his podcast, “Bust/The Ryan Leaf Story,” you can find that here.

Missouri football begins their season on August 31st, when they’ll face off against the South Dakota Coyotes.