Former USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart is making one thing crystal clear.

The Trojans can stop asking him about unretiring his No. 11 jersey for high-level recruits interested in wearing the number. The answer is no.

“There’s been multiple times where people at USC have asked me if I would unretire my jersey for some five-star prospect,” Leinart said on his “Throwbacks” podcast with Jerry Ferrara last week. “And do you want to know what I told those guys straight up? ‘Absolutely f—— not.’ I am never going to unretire my jersey for some random dude, who by the way, now could wear No. 11 and transfer after a year.”

Leinart, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2004, is one of the Trojans’ eight Heisman winners and led USC to consecutive national championships in 2003 and 2004. He nearly won a third in 2005, before USC lost to Texas, and finished his USC career with 10,693 yards passing, which is still third all-time in school history. He was a first-round draft pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2006 and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

USC only retires the jersey numbers of Heisman Trophy winners.

“The only person that will ever wear my USC No. 11 would be Cole, who’s not there right now. He’s at SMU,” Leinart said of his eldest son. “Or two of my boys, if they end up going to USC and playing football. That is it.”

Leinart told Ferrara that Cole, a freshman quarterback for the Mustangs, asked his father a few years ago if he’d let a high-level linebacker recruit who wanted to wear No. 11 at USC do so. Leinart was seemingly just as adamant about his stance then as he is now.

“I said, ‘For a linebacker?’ This ain’t Lavar Arrington at Penn State wearing the sticks,” Leinart said. “Absolutely not. Would not do it.”

Asked by Ferrara if he’d ever consider amending his position if money was involved, say, if a recruit offered him $1 million for him to change his mind, Leinart tripled down.

“You’re gonna tell me I’m gonna take a million dollars from an 18-year-old kid? No. It’s not for sale. It’s not for sale,” Leinart said. “That kid, probably the chance of him staying at USC after two years, is slim anyway. So it ain’t happening, bro. I’m keeping that up there forever. You can call me selfish. I don’t give a s—.”

Carson Palmer did allow Jordan Addison, a transfer from Pitt in 2022, to wear No. 3 in 2022, despite it being retired shortly after Palmer was drafted by the Bengals with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.

A request for comment from USC was not immediately returned.