The history of college football goes far and wide. Its metamorphosis has seen some of the best football players in the sport grace its fields of all shapes and sizes. However, early enrollment is not so common anymore. The first athlete to enroll early to play college football came back in 2003, with John David Booty.
The Surprising Story Behind College Football’s First Early Enrollee: John David Booty
Before early enrolling became the norm, one college football player changed the game. Here’s the story behind John David Booty.
Players graduate from high school early and choose to enroll in university in the spring semester. Coaches like it because it counts against the scholarship limit from last year.
Booty was the No. 1 quarterback in his high school class. He graduated early due to a clash at a private high school, Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, between his dad, who was a coach for Brock Berlin, and the administration, which caused his dad to leave the school.
JT Daniels isn’t the first high profile USC QB commit to reclassify and enroll a year early- John David Booty did the same.
— Charles Power (@CharlesPower) December 22, 2017
Booty had enough credits to graduate early, so he did just that. He went to USC in the spring semester before the 2003 season.
The significant change greatly messed up recruiting rankings because when Booty was counted a year early, it pushed USC to No. 1 with Reggie Bush and company joining.
Although he entered USC as a highly regarded quarterback prospect, Booty spent his first three years at USC as the backup to eventual Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, who had replaced former Heisman winner Carson Palmer.
When he arrived at USC, the competition for the starting quarterback in the 2003 season had not seen any particular player separating himself from the pack, so when Matt Leinart was eventually chosen as the starter, there was some question as to whether he would merely hold the starting position until Booty could learn the offense.
Booty earned the spot as the number two quarterback as a freshman, but had to redshirt his second season after suffering an elbow injury in August 2004. When Leinart opted to stay for his final year at USC, there were questions as to whether Booty would transfer to a different school.
He opted to remain at USC. At the end of March 2006, Booty had back surgery to repair a bulging disc in his spine, but he fully recovered and earned the starting spot for the 2006 season.
Booty’s best season arguably came in 2006. He completed a career-high of 269 passes out of 436 attempts. He also threw for 3,347 yards and 29 touchdowns, both career-high statistics for Booty.
At the beginning of the 2006 season, Booty was one of 15 players on the official watch list for the Maxwell Award for the best player in college football.
Regardless, the list states it “may change without notice based on performance … during the 2006 season and is not designed to represent an all-inclusive listing of eligible candidates for the collegiate football awards presented by the Maxwell Football Club.”
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In the 2006 season, Rivals.com ranked Booty the tenth-best quarterback in college football and the number one quarterback in the Pac-10. He started all of the USC Trojans’ games at quarterback in 2006 and was named to the rivals.com and Pacific-10 conference coaches’ 2006 All-Pac-10 team First Team.
Booty led the Trojans to a victory over Michigan in the 2007 Rose Bowl, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns.
Booty ended his career with the Trojans with an impressive nine-win and zero-loss record against top-25 teams. He went on to the NFL and played for the Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans, and Houston Texans, but he was sadly never able to recreate the magic he had in college.
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