Leinart Chosen State Player of Year

By BEN BOLCH

Dec. 5, 2000 12 AM PT

Mater Dei quarterback Matt Leinart, who threw for an Orange County-best 2,847 yards and 27 touchdowns, has been selected the California high school football player of the year by Gatorade.

Leinart, who has committed to USC but is taking trips to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech, said the honor came as a shock.

“I didn’t really expect any awards or anything,” he said. “There’s so many great football players in California, I didn’t expect to be named the top one. That’s pretty cool.”

Leinart is a finalist for Gatorade’s national player of the year award.

High School Sports

Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

Leinart Chosen State Player of Year

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