Will Stein isn’t exactly hiding the challenge in front of Kentucky this weekend.
With No. 10 LSU headed to Lexington on Saturday, the first-year Kentucky head coach made it clear that Sam Leavitt is the kind of quarterback who can stress a defense in a hurry. And after a rocky opening stretch, Leavitt is starting to look like the player LSU expected when it brought him in.
The senior quarterback’s numbers have taken a noticeable jump since LSU’s Week 5 bye. Over the previous two games against Texas A&M and McNeese State, Leavitt threw for 489 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions while completing 76% of his passes.
That came after a much shakier start across LSU’s first three games, when he totaled 732 passing yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions on 61.3% completion in matchups with Clemson, Louisiana Tech and Ole Miss. The Ole Miss game ended in a 32-24 loss.
Stein, though, said the film has always shown a quarterback with real ability. In his view, the biggest issue early on was Leavitt’s decision-making as he settled into a fairly new system under first-year LSU head coach Lane Kiffin.
“I think Sam has kind of always been a really good passer. I think it’s [been] more decision-making than anything,” Stein said of Leavitt during Wednesday’s bi-weekly SEC Coaches Teleconference.
“The guy has elite arm talent, great accuracy, mobility, swagger and confidence. I think when Sam plays within himself and within the system, he’s really, really difficult to defend.
So, I would imagine he’s going to continue on this trend and it’s going to be a big task for us on Saturday.”
Leavitt entered Baton Rouge in January with plenty of attention on him. On3’s Transfer Portal player rankings had him No. 1 in the portal, and he was viewed as the centerpiece of Kiffin’s 43-player 2026 transfer class. That group ranked second nationally in On3’s Transfer Portal team rankings and also included OT Jordan Seaton and EDGE Princewill Umanmielen, the top-rated players at their positions in the class.
Kentucky and LSU are set to kick off at 7 pm ET Saturday at Kroger Field.
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