Two years ago Sam Leavitt dragged Arizona State to a Big 12 title and the Playoff as a redshirt freshman. Then injuries stole his 2025. Now he's the first quarterback of the Lane Kiffin era at LSU.
Two years ago Sam Leavitt dragged Arizona State to a Big 12 title and the Playoff as a redshirt freshman. Then injuries stole his 2025. Now he's the first quarterback of the Lane Kiffin era at LSU.
Leavitt's college career has been a spike and a setback. As a redshirt freshman in 2024 he was the engine of one of the sport's best turnaround stories, leading Arizona State to a Big 12 championship and a Playoff berth. His 2025 never got going -- a broken stretch of seven games before injuries ended it.
So he hit the portal as its top quarterback and chose the highest-pressure landing spot available: Baton Rouge, as the first starter of Lane Kiffin's LSU. The fit is the story -- a mobile, gunslinging passer handed the keys to an offense built by one of the sport's sharpest play-callers, on a roster expected to return to the Playoff in Year 1.
The forward question is health and fit: a full, healthy season of the 2024 version of Leavitt makes LSU a contender and Kiffin's debut a hit. Anything less, and a new era opens with a familiar question at quarterback.
PLAY STYLE
Leavitt is a dual-threat whose legs are the headline -- and the 2025 numbers say so emphatically. In an injury-shortened season his passing graded middling (28th percentile in completion, 41st in efficiency), but as a runner he was elite: top-3% in the country in rushing success rate and yards per carry, 90th percentile in explosive runs. He's a problem the instant the pocket moves. The fit at LSU is the whole story: Lane Kiffin builds explosive, quarterback-friendly attacks, and Leavitt's mobility adds a dimension Kiffin's recent passers haven't had -- if the arm catches up to the legs. The caveats are health and consistency as a thrower, and 2026 is his first year in a new system. Click early and it's the SEC's most fun offense; if the passing stays middling, defenses make him a runner and find the ceiling.
Career Arc
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Big 12
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Kenny Dillingham.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to LSU
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Elite: interceptions (82nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Awards
Selector Grid · 2025
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Big 12
Career stats
Season-by-season quarterback passing line in a familiar scoreboard layout.
| Season | Team | CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | Y/A | TD | INT | RATE | LNG | SACK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Arizona StateFinal snapshot | 145 | 239 | 60.7% | 1,628 | 6.8 | 10 | 3 | 129.2 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan StateFinal snapshot | 15 | 23 | 65.2% | 139 | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 127.3 | -- | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasonsCareer row reflects the stat seasons currently loaded in this database. | 160 | 262 | 61.1% | 1,767 | 6.7 | 12 | 5 | 129.0 | -- | -- |
Ground contribution that rounds out the quarterback profile.
| Season | Team | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Arizona StateFinal snapshot | 73 | 306 | 4.2 | 5 | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan StateFinal snapshot | 13 | 67 | 5.2 | 0 | -- |
| Career | 2 loaded seasonsCareer row reflects the stat seasons currently loaded in this database. | 86 | 373 | 4.3 | 5 | -- |
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2025
W 26–22
vs Texas Tech
319 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 70.6 · 3 rush yds (12 car)
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 4 at home.
Game log
Game Log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 7 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-19vs Northern Arizona | 25/39 | 257 | 2 | 1 | 6.6 | 50.5 | |
| Wk 2 | L 20-24@ Mississippi State | 10/22 | 82 | 1 | 2 | 3.7 | 34.8 | |
| Wk 3 | W 34-15vs Texas State | 15/25 | 188 | 2 | 0 | 7.5 | 69.0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 27-24@ Baylor | 22/32 | 221 | 1 | 0 | 6.9 | 77.6 | |
| Wk 5 | W 27-24vs TCU | 27/39 | 291 | 2 | 0 | 7.5 | 74.1 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 8 | W 26-22vs Texas Tech | 28/47 | 319 | 1 | 0 | 6.8 | 70.6 | Season-high 319 yds |
| Wk 9 | L 16-24vs Houston | 18/35 | 270 | 1 | 0 | 7.7 | 48.2 | |
| Total | 145/239 | 1628 | 10 | 3 | 6.7 | 60.7 |
How he plays
Savant · Box-rate percentiles
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Elite: interceptions (82nd).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
PLAY STYLE
Leavitt is a dual-threat whose legs are the headline -- and the 2025 numbers say so emphatically. In an injury-shortened season his passing graded middling (28th percentile in completion, 41st in efficiency), but as a runner he was elite: top-3% in the country in rushing success rate and yards per carry, 90th percentile in explosive runs. He's a problem the instant the pocket moves. The fit at LSU is the whole story: Lane Kiffin builds explosive, quarterback-friendly attacks, and Leavitt's mobility adds a dimension Kiffin's recent passers haven't had -- if the arm catches up to the legs. The caveats are health and consistency as a thrower, and 2026 is his first year in a new system. Click early and it's the SEC's most fun offense; if the passing stays middling, defenses make him a runner and find the ceiling.
Perception vs tape
Two years ago Sam Leavitt dragged Arizona State to a Big 12 title and the Playoff as a redshirt freshman. Then injuries stole his 2025. Now he's the first quarterback of the Lane Kiffin era at LSU.
Leavitt's college career has been a spike and a setback. As a redshirt freshman in 2024 he was the engine of one of the sport's best turnaround stories, leading Arizona State to a Big 12 championship and a Playoff berth. His 2025 never got going — a broken stretch of seven games before injuries ended it.
So he hit the portal as its top quarterback and chose the highest-pressure landing spot available: Baton Rouge, as the first starter of Lane Kiffin's LSU. The fit is the story — a mobile, gunslinging passer handed the keys to an offense built by one of the sport's sharpest play-callers, on a roster expected to return to the Playoff in Year 1.
The forward question is health and fit: a full, healthy season of the 2024 version of Leavitt makes LSU a contender and Kiffin's debut a hit. Anything less, and a new era opens with a familiar question at quarterback.
Leavitt is a dual-threat whose legs are the headline — and the 2025 numbers say so emphatically. In an injury-shortened season his passing graded middling (28th percentile in completion, 41st in efficiency), but as a runner he was elite: top-3% in the country in rushing success rate and yards per carry, 90th percentile in explosive runs. He's a problem the instant the pocket moves. The fit at LSU is the whole story: Lane Kiffin builds explosive, quarterback-friendly attacks, and Leavitt's mobility adds a dimension Kiffin's recent passers haven't had — if the arm catches up to the legs. The caveats are health and consistency as a thrower, and 2026 is his first year in a new system. Click early and it's the SEC's most fun offense; if the passing stays middling, defenses make him a runner and find the ceiling.
DNA match
Player DNA
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Bo Nix’s 2021 season.
Bo Nix
Conner Harrell
Spencer Sanders
Avery Johnson
Sean Clifford
Matches Bo on
Differs from Bo on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Payton Thorne’s path through Auburn.
Payton Thorne
Ian Book
Brock Domann
Tyler Huff
Sean Clifford
Matches Payton on
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Avery Johnson's junior season at Kansas State (2025).
Avery Johnson
Conner Harrell
JC French
Broc Lowry
Bishop Davenport
Matches Avery on
Differs from Avery on
Peer comparator
Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match
Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile
Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.
Heisman trajectory
Heisman futures · live sportsbook odds
#10 in market · 6 books
Development
Development Trajectory · passing yards
2023–2025Up 1071% from first season to most-recent.