Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

If Matt Leinart had left for the NFL after his junior season, he likely would've been the No. 1 overall pick last year. Instead, he stayed in school, nearly won a third national championship ... and probably will make around $13 million less on his first pro contract after falling to No. 10 in this year's draft.

Leinart’s USC teammate, Reggie Bush, had the right idea. He won the Heisman. His college potential had been maximized. And he was all but delivered to the Houston Texas with the draft’s No. 1 overall pick.

Even that didn’t work out. Can any rational football observer say that another player should be taken ahead of Bush? He had been compared to Gale Sayers and called the most electric college football player of his generation. He looks like the ultimate difference-maker, the type of talent that can light a fire under a franchise (a fire that the Texans can use, by the way).

But along came Mario Williams, the defensive lineman from North Carolina State, a guy who had great workouts, and he became the object of Houston’s desire.

Don’t weep for Bush, either. He will become the centerpiece of Coach Sean Payton’s offense in New Orleans. The Texans will soon realize what they have missed. Or they may one day wake up to the fact that they bypassed a player who could become football’s Michael Jordan.

It almost seemed too obvious when watching USC’s dominance of college football.

Bush was the real thing.

And for anyone who needed a quarterback, Leinart was the man.

Somewhere along the line, things changed. In the future, any NFL-ready quarterback will have to think twice about a senior season. Call it the Matt Leinart Effect.

We want college football players to remain loyal to their schools. We praise them for staying true to four-year careers. But the ending isn’t always the happiest one. Just look at Matt Leinart and all the money that washed down the drain on Saturday.

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