Leinart: Kiffin ‘obviously joking’ with FAU’s offer to 11-year-old son

When Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin said in a tweet on Tuesday that he offered Cole Leinart, the 11-year-old son of former Southern Cal Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, a football scholarship to FAU, it drew national attention.

Following the hoopla, Matt Leinart said Wednesday on Twitter, that the former assistant coach he played under at USC was joking about the whole thing.

“Guys- Lane was obviously joking and sure was all in good fun. Nothing more to be said! #FightOn,” he tweeted.

So was it all a joke? Is Leinart, who now is a college football analyst for Fox Sports after also playing in the NFL, downplaying it?

Kiffin didn’t appear to be joking when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday about it, saying he would stay away from discussing Cole to avoid any potential NCAA violation, although the NCAA doesn’t officially recognize football players as recruits until they’re in the ninth grade.

“I don’t know if I can talk on that,” Kiffin said earlier Wednesday, before Leinart tweeted. “I think because he’s under ninth grade, I can, but just in case, I’m not going to.”

He maintains the same tone so often, it can be difficult to decipher at times. An FAU spokesperson couldn’t say whether Kiffin was joking.

He was certainly joking when he, later in the news conference, said he doesn’t know how much he could talk about Matt Leinart, being the father of a recruit. Kiffin quickly shrugged that off and went into their long-standing relationship.

“Matt, we’ve always had a good relationship,” Kiffin said. “We’ve been communicating a lot over the last couple of months. They [Fox] had the opener, their broadcast and stuff. He lives right down the street from my kids in Manhattan Beach out there. There’s some crossover, kids in different sports and things like that.”

Since Cole Leinart is too young to be recognized a college football recruit, the “offer” is obviously nothing official — not to mention, he’s seven years away from signing anywhere, so who knows how much things change from then to now for both he and Kiffin?

The offer, however, can still be viewed in the same light as Kiffin’s offer to then-13-year-old David Sills during his second stint with the Trojans, that time as a head coach. It began a trend of college coaches offering players younger and younger.

“Was I that far off or was I just ahead of everybody else?,” Kiffin said on Wednesday.

Sills went on to become a standout wide receiver for West Virginia.

In May 2017 while at FAU, Kiffin offered thenseventh-grader Kaden Martin, the son of USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin.

KIM D. JOHNSON/AP Former USC Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart tweeted that FAU coach Lane Kiffin was “obviously joking” about offering his 11-year-old son, Cole Leinart.