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.
6′2″ · 216 lb · West Linn, OR · West Linn HS
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The numbers
passing yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far -- Backed by 11 car · 22 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game. -- Best game: 230 pass yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, vs Clemson
The play that turned itSwung Arizona State from 44% to 90% to win.Arizona State at Baylor · 27-24
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
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.
How he plays
Extends plays with his feet until something opens up.
Explosive rate: 66th percentile.
The full scouting readAura™ · Him Watch
+37aura tax
50th pctl our passing-value metric (wEPA) QBs · 160 qualified, n=267
— more hype than the tape.Buzz vs Tape
He's mentioned more than 87% of qualified QBs this season, but his production sits in just the 51st percentile — a gap of 36 points between volume and tape.
Also worth knowing:
“I hate watching Sam Leavitt play quarterback tbh”
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.
His career
He arrived as a blue-chip recruit and played like one.
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, 98th 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.
Written by our staff.
The role got bigger.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-BIG 12 · 2ND TEAM
All-Big 12 2nd team (2024)
Badges
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
3 coachesPlayed under 3 different head coaches: Brian Kelly, Frank Wilson, and Lane Kiffin. Multi-era developmental context.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to LSU
| Season | Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | LSU | 57 | 93 | 61.3% | 732 | 7.9 | 3 | 5 | 127.3 | 56 | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Arizona State | 145 | 239 | 60.7% | 1,628 | 6.8 | 10 | 3 | 129.2 | 47 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | Arizona State | 216 | 350 | 61.7% | 2,885 | 8.2 | 24 | 6 | 150.2 | 58 | -- | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan State | 15 | 23 | 65.2% | 139 | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 127.3 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 433 | 705 | 61.4% | 5,384 | 7.6 | 39 | 16 | 139.3 | 54 | -- | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | LSU | 40 | 198 | 5.0 | 6 | -- |
| 2025 | Arizona State | 73 | 306 | 4.2 | 5 | -- |
| 2024 | Arizona State | 110 | 443 | 4.0 | 5 | -- |
| 2023 | Michigan State | 13 | 67 | 5.2 | 0 | -- |
| Career | 236 | 1,014 | 4.3 | 16 | -- |
Game by game
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 51-10vs Clemson | 16/28 | 230 | 1 | 1 | 8.2 | — | |
| Wk 2 | W 45-14vs Louisiana Tech | 25/38 | 344 | 1 | 3 | 9.1 | 45.2 | Season-high 344 yds · 3 INTs — rough day |
| Wk 3 | L 24-32@ Ole Miss | 16/27 | 158 | 1 | 1 | 5.9 | 86.5 | |
| Total | 57/93 | 732 | 3 | 5 | 7.7 | 65.8 |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2026
W 51–10
vs Clemson
230 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · 113 rush yds (12 car) · 2 TD
Dominant 41-point win at home against Clemson.
With W. Watkins — 14 rush yds (1 car) · P. Wright III — 3 rec · 70 yds · 1 TD
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Since week 2: +158 passing yards, +1 passing TD, +1 interception.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: rush tds (99th percentile). Strength: rush yards (95th percentile). Concern: interception rate (2nd percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Adjusted ANY/A
5.31104 of 126 QBsSack rate
7.0%100 of 126 QBsSacked on 7.0% of dropbacks (100 of 126) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (104 of 126).
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Short · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 60.6% completion on 94 attempts · 29% completion on 14 deep attempts (20+ air yds).
Zeitgeist Passer Rating
2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.
Thin sample: 90 dropbacks56Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks
--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet
Positive-play rate weight 24%
48.9%75th pct of FBS QBsshare of dropbacks that gained expected points · +3.4% schedule adj.Yards per attempt weight 56%
7.8880th pct of FBS QBssacks excluded · +0.4 schedule adj.Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)
7.7%17th pct of FBS QBsthe input passer rating cannot see · -0.1% schedule adj.Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (8 of 98 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. Scaled against the 2025 FBS population until enough 2026 QBs qualify. How ZPR is built.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 287 | 1.0 | 8.6 | 2.0 |
| Road1g | 158 | 1.0 | 5.9 | 1.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 244 | 1.0 | 7.7 | 1.7 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Lane Kiffin
Pass share
41.9%
104 pass / 144 run
Plays / game
82.7
3 games
Scheme: Run-leaning, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2026
Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.
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, 98th 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.
Our classifier reads him the same way: extends plays with his feet until something opens up.
Returning starter at quarterback for a 7-6 LSU team that went +3 in the portal.
Player DNA
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Brandon Wimbush’s 2018 season.
Matches Brandon on
Differs from Brandon on
Through 4 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Payton Thorne’s path through Auburn.
Andrew Indorf
Matches Payton on
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Brock Vandagriff's senior season at Kentucky (2024).
Matches Brock on
Differs from Brock on
Player DNA
Heisman futures · sportsbook market
#7 in market ▲ from #10 · 6 books
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peaked at #27 this season.