updated 10:09 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2005

Matt Leinart would like to dance away from USC with another national championship.

The fifth-year senior will have plenty of time to focus on football in his final season. Leinart is enrolled in one class: Ballroom dancing will fulfill the final elective for his sociology degree, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"I put in my work to get my degree," he told the paper. "I came back for my fifth year, and I'm taking what's necessary for me to graduate. And that's two units."

NCAA rules require student-athletes to enroll in 12 semester or quarter hours unless they are in their final semester or quarter and are taking the courses needed to graduate.

The exception was adopted in 1975 and has been revised, said Brad Hostetter, director of NCAA membership services.

"The goal is for the student-athlete to graduate, and this exception is there to recognize that there are student-athletes that have done their job in the classroom throughout their previous years and have gotten close to graduation," Hostetter told the Times.

College football Two-man race with Tebow, McFadden

Wide receiver Greig Carlson is also taking only one class, while seven other fifth-year seniors are working on master's degrees or another bachelor's degree or minor, the Times reported.

"It's all up to the individual," coach Pete Carroll told the paper. "I think they've earned that right. They earned that by hard work."

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