Lane Kiffin has a rich history of quarterbacks soaring in his offensive system. Charlie Weis Jr has taken that success to another level. Look no further than what they did with Trinidad Chambliss just a season ago.
Sam Leavitt is looking to follow the same path as others before him. The hype is real, both inside and outside of the LSU community.
On Thursday, he was named to the Davey O’Brien Award watch list.
The Davey O’Brien Award is given annually to the nation’s best quarterback. If often goes hand-in-hand with the Heisman Trophy, considering that has essentially become a quarterback award with 15 of the past 20 winners taking snaps from the center.
Established in 1977, it started as an award for the most outstanding player in the Southwestern states, but transitioned in to what it is today in 1981. Of the past 10 winners, 7 of those are currently starting quarterbacks in the NFL. It’s one of the top honors each year and the committee’s evaluations are clearly solid.
Sam Leavitt heads to Baton Rouge for his redshirt junior year after spending his past two seasons at Arizona St. He started at Michigan St, but only played in 4 games and received the redshirt. In his first year with the Sun Devils, the redshirt freshman helped lead his team to the first 12-team playoff by winning the Big 12 and earning a first round bye. They lost a two-OT barn-burner to Texas, but proved that they were deserving to be there.
Leavitt had the best season of his career, throwing for 2,885 yards with 24 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. His athleticism shined by also using his legs for 443 yards rushing and another 5 touchdowns.
With high hopes coming off of the playoff appearance, 2025 fell far short of expectations and most of that had to do with the Lisfranc foot injury. Leavitt originally injured the foot in their week 4 game against Baylor, then tried to play through it for the next few weeks. After sitting out a game, he returned and re-aggravated the injury and surgery was announced on Halloween.
In the 7 games that he did play, he finished with 1,628 yards passing, 10 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He was still somehow able to rush for 306 yards with 5 more rushing touchdowns, despite playing majority of his season injured.
Leavitt was eased back during the spring, doing no more than throwing and some light 7-on-7 action before having his pins removed in his foot and shutting things down until the summer.
Throughout fall camp, reports indicated that he has shown no signs of coming off of an injury.
During their first week of practice, Lane Kiffin said in a post-practice presser, “He looked really good. Sam’s moving really well. If you just went out today, I don’t think that you’d think there was an injury. I think he’s all the way back from that.”
Last Monday, the media had their first opportunity to speak with Leavitt and when asked directly about the injury, he said, “I’m 100% right now and I’ve been 100% for the past few months.”
As always, it will take time for the new signal-caller to get completely comfortable in the new system, but all signs point to go as the Tigers draw closer to kickoff vs Clemson on September 5th.
Leavitt will try to be the 4th LSU quarterback to win the Davey O’Brien Award, following the three Heisman winners in program history. Billy Cannon (1959), Joe Burrow (2019), and Jayden Daniels (2023) have each won the award.
National champion Fernando Mendoza is the defending winner from 2025.
There are 30 total quarterbacks on the watch list, but joining Leavitt from the SEC include:
- Byrum Brown (Auburn)
- Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss)
- Arch Manning (Texas)
- John Mateer (Oklahoma)
- Marcel Reed (Texas A&M)
- Gunner Stockton (Georgia)
