Quotes from Ryan Leaf

I do follow the NFL. It took me a while to get back into it, but I do follow it religiously now. Huge Packers and Steelers fan.

I was a talented egomaniac with a self-esteem problem.

I was an ego maniac with a self-esteem problem and that's what most addicts are like.

I defy anybody to be of service to another human being and not have the most peaceful night of sleep you've had in a long, long time.

I didn't leave school early to sit on the bench.

When you're talking to potential professional athletes, I really like to talk about the fact that even though you're a great athlete, that doesn't make you a good person. And if you can build that foundation first, everything else usually follows suit.

When people ask where I'm from, I tell them Washington, because that's where I feel the most comforted by the people.

I mean this country is all about second chances. Look at me.

How can I go from this poor college kid one day and the next day get a check for $7 million. How's that going to affect me?

I grew up in a really supportive environment.

I had two amazing parents, two younger brothers, grandparents, a supportive community. Really loved.

There was a joke going around campus when I was at Washington State. It went, 'What's the difference between God and Ryan Leaf?' The punchline was, 'God doesn't think he's Ryan Leaf.'

People say I'm arrogant or cocky. You know what it is? I feel that I have a good chance to win ball games.

About a year after I retired from playing, I decided that I wanted to getback to college, where I had the greatest time of my life, and to get involved with college football.

I'm the kind of competitor where if I'm able to play, I've got to play.

Being vulnerable is not a weakness.

The third game of my career, we played Kansas City and I played as poorly as I've ever played in my life. I completed one of 15 passes and had two interceptions.

If you deny the fact that things are happening to you, that this is going on, whether it's negative or positive, you're just putting yourself behind the 8-ball because you're not facing it head on and dealing with it in a positive way that you've learned how to.

Guys like me can put on 10-15 pounds in a week.

People don't understand that if I would have stayed in Tampa, I might have disappeared and people would have forgotten about me. That may be good in some ways, but not in others.

A lot of people said they prayed for me. I felt their prayers.

When I came into the NFL, there were three things that were very important to me: money, power and prestige. I was powerful now because I was a famous athlete. I had prestige because I was doing what everybody wanted to do. And I had a lot of money.

When I retired, I took my money from the financial planner and proceeded to present the front that everything was fine. I had to pretend I still made $5 million a year.

Coaching in college is not a right. It's a privilege.