For LSU fans, a love for football runs deeper than the game itself.
It’s tossing the ball around with family at Thanksgiving, collecting their favorite players’ jerseys, and cheering on their team each fall weekend.
That love is shared by Sam Leavitt.
Now, the Tigers’ quarterback will lead the purple and gold on Saturday nights in Death Valley.
For Leavitt, his connection to the sport began long before he arrived in Louisiana.
Growing up in West Linn, Ore., Leavitt was born into a football family. His father, Jared, spent four years as a linebacker for Brigham Young University, and his older brother, Dallin, played collegiately at BYU and Utah State before spending six seasons in the NFL with the Raiders and Packers.
Sam thanks his family for his love for the game, and his mentality to be great.
“You just got to love it on a different level,” he explained.
It was around his freshman year of high school when it all clicked.
“I think that really started from my brother. He kind of instilled that in me in around ninth grade, I kind of just took it from there and learned to love the game more and more,” Leavitt said.
In 2024, Leavitt led Arizona State to an 11-win season, a program-high since 1996, and the school’s first College Football Playoff appearance.
“Going and playing in the playoffs, just how exciting that moment was, (I was) just going to go and embrace the moment a little bit,” Leavitt said.
ASU ultimately fell to Texas in double overtime, but when he walked out of the stadium, everyone in college football knew the name Sam Leavitt.
Following the end of the 2025 season, he decided to enter the transfer portal, and his name was on the SEC radar.
Meanwhile, LSU had just agreed to terms with head coach Lane Kiffin, a coach who’s built a reputation as the “Portal King,” and he earned his crown in 2026.
The Tigers sat atop ESPN’s transfer class rankings, led by none other than #1 ranked quarterback Sam Leavitt.
But for the West Coast kid, it wasn’t always here that he imagined he would feel so much like home.
“I’m from Oregon, so Louisiana kind of felt almost fake to me in a way, I didn’t think it was a real place,” Leavitt laughed.
“Portal process was pretty crazy, I didn’t expect it to go in that direction, and then when I came out here, took my visit, just kind of fell in love with the place,” he explained, “I just love the trees and I’ve always wanted to be in the South.”
For Kiffin’s staff, Leavitt was the perfect match to be the signal-caller, and their love for the game of football allowed them to mesh right away.
“I think they really see my passion for the game, and I see theirs,” Leavitt said. “This staff is probably the hardest working staff I’ve been around.”
“The coolest thing about (Kiffin) and everybody upstairs is just the camaraderie from the coaching staff perspective, like they really do feel like a family,” Leavitt added. “That trickles down to the entire organization, everything starts from the top and goes down.”
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing during the move to LSU, as Leavitt was recovering from a foot injury, and a whole new roster and just a few healthy months meant he had to mesh quickly with the offense.
It was a 6-7 tight end from Louisiana that helped the Oregon native feel at home in the South, Trey’Dez Green.
“Trey’Dez is great. I always say, ‘every time Trey’Dez’s name gets brought up it puts a smile on my face’,” Leavitt said. “What a special human, and then you watch him on the field and it’s just a wow factor.”
Leavitt took it upon himself to lead player-run practices during the summer and worked hard to get his timing down with his receiving corps, though he admits it was difficult at first.
“It’s a lot different, but I really love the players that I have around me,” he said.
To further his connection with his guys, he led player practices during the summer and even put together a trip to Dallas, Texas, with his receivers.
“I got to go spend some quality time with them, see them in different scenarios; it really created a tighter bond with us, and I was very grateful to be able to do that with them,” Leavitt smiled. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, go with the guys, go train, sounds like a pretty good situation, huh?”
In a time where a college football fan can’t refresh their social media feed without seeing purple and gold and the three iconic letters, Leavitt was standing at the core of the national spotlight.
“There’s been a lot of noise throughout the offseason that I’ve blocked out and just put my head down and went to work,” Leavitt explained, and for a “football guy,” there’s no better place for him to be.
“You walk around and it’s just a historic place. So many great players to come out of here, and then you view the players you’re going to get to play against in practice, going up against guys like Whit Weeks, TJ Dottery and Ty Benefield; it’s a special situation for me to be in,” he said.
A massive Week 1 matchup against Clemson let Leavitt show the country why he was such a highly desired transfer right out of the gate.
With ESPN’s College GameDay show and a sold-out Saturday night crowd in town, the lights shined brightly in LSU’s first season opener at home since 2019.
“The whole drive (to the stadium) was incredible, everybody tailgating. You soak it in and it’s pretty fantastic,” said Leavitt. “You’re not going to get many opportunities to play in Tiger Stadium on GameDay. Playing with these fans and this crowd, this environment, you definitely have to soak it in and embrace the moment.”
That’s exactly what he did.
Leavitt, in first LSU start, accounted for three TDs in leading the purple and gold to a dominant victory over Clemson. He threw for 230 yards and rushed for a career-best 113 yards, and all 100,000 Tiger Stadium seats were rocking.
He added yet another accomplishment to his resume, SEC Offensive Player of the Week.
And he’s just getting started.
“You can’t really ever settle, especially in this league,” Leavitt said.
Behind the scenes, Sam Leavitt’s impact extends much beyond the football field.
While working his way back to the field this spring, Leavitt became actively involved in supporting The Emma Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping children pursue treatment and healing.
Everyone sees what he can do between the end zones, but he’s particularly proud of the work he does in his community, and he’s looking forward to carrying his off-field contributions with him to Louisiana.
“The people are great in Louisiana, the passion, just walking down the street, it’s pretty incredible the way that they love the state and put on for the state, it just makes you want to be here even more.
“It’s a great time in my life,” he said with a smile.
For a West Coast kid who didn’t know anything about Louisiana before arriving, Leavitt’s fearless style of play and off-the-field leadership bears a striking resemblance to the people of his adopted state.
Unafraid to embrace a challenge, and a love, for the game of football.
Sam Leavitt is ready to put on for Louisiana.