LSU may have to head into one of the season’s biggest early showdowns without the quarterback who has driven its fast start.
On the SEC’s first availability report of the year, Sam Leavitt showed up as doubtful for LSU’s trip to Ole Miss, a status that points to a player being “unlikely to play/has a 25% chance to play.” That immediately put a cloud over Saturday night’s matchup, which was set up as a quarterback showcase between Leavitt and Rebels star Trinidad Chambliss.
Leavitt has been central to LSU’s early surge under first-year head coach Lane Kiffin. The Arizona State transfer has piled up 709 total yards and seven touchdowns, including five on the ground, through two games. If he can’t go, the loss would be felt even more in Oxford, where Kiffin is set to return to a hostile environment.
There is still a week of movement left before kickoff, though, and Leavitt’s situation is not locked in. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Thursday morning that nobody on the Ole Miss staff is buying LSU’s injury report at face value, and that skepticism matters because the Tigers could be fined between $25,000 and $100,000 this season for inaccurate injury reporting.
If Leavitt is unavailable, Kiffin has two main paths forward: Landen Clark or Husan Longstreet.
Clark looks like the most natural next man up. The redshirt sophomore transferred to Baton Rouge from Elon after spending the previous two seasons there, and he took over as the Phoenix starter in 2025. That year, he earned third-team freshman All-American honors and was named CAA Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year.
He has already seen the field in both LSU blowouts to open the season, which makes him the most likely candidate if the Tigers need to pivot. In the 51-10 win over Clemson, Clark entered late in the third quarter and finished 5-of-7 for 72 yards and a touchdown, while also adding four carries for 23 yards over two drives.
Clark brings the same kind of dual-threat profile Kiffin has leaned on before. His passing accuracy is still a question - he completed 56% of his throws on 277 attempts in 2025 - but LSU has enough weapons around him to simplify the job. Dilin Jones gives the offense a running back who can matter, and Winston Watkins Jr., Eugene Wilson III and Trey’Dez Green give Clark options at receiver and tight end.
If Kiffin wants another direction, Longstreet is sitting right there. The former five-star recruit out of California spent his true freshman season at USC behind Jayden Maiava before transferring to LSU, and there’s still real belief in what he can become.
The issue is simply the sample size. LSU has not seen enough of him to know exactly what the full package looks like.
Longstreet did get opportunities in USC’s blowouts in 2025. Against Missouri State, he was perfect, going 9-for-9 for 69 yards and three total touchdowns.
After that, though, his workload was tiny, with just six more pass attempts and three carries the rest of the season. With Maiava positioned for a possible Heisman Trophy run in 2026, Longstreet moved on and brought his dual-threat tools to Kiffin’s offense.
He can make things happen off script, and that improvisational streak fits the system. Like Clark, he is not built exactly like Leavitt and may be less equipped to absorb the kind of punishment LSU’s starter took in two games. But he also has the athleticism to sidestep trouble before it arrives.
Even with the quarterback uncertainty, LSU’s roster is built to survive some turbulence. The offensive line, anchored by Colorado transfer Jordan Seaton, had a rough outing against Louisiana Tech but was nearly spotless against Clemson. The defense has been even more imposing, allowing just three points before the fourth quarter this season while stacking up 12 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss in two games.
And Leavitt is not ruled out yet. LSU will have to submit additional availability reports by 8 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday night, and those updates will be watched closely on both sides.
For now, though, the Tigers are staring at a major test with real uncertainty under center.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Just Added More Heat To LSU's Ole Miss Rivalry
Few SEC matchups carry as much history as LSU and Ole Miss, a rivalry that dates to 1894 and has grown into the Magnolia Bowl since 2008. The Tigers have controlled the series overall, leading 64-44-4, and the annual meeting has produced its share of memorable nights, from the 1959 Halloween game to the famed 1972 contest known as The Night Time Stood Still.
Recent history has leaned LSUs way, too, including a comeback win in 2024 that only added to the edge between the programs. With Lane Kiffin now adding more heat to the conversation, the next chapter in this long-running feud has plenty of built-in tension before anyone even steps on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Is Adding More Heat To LSUs Ole Miss Trip
Lane Kiffin has spent enough time in SEC theater to know how to lean into it, and this week he helped turn LSUs preparation for Ole Miss into a much louder scene. He invited LSU students to come out and heckle the Tigers during practice, using the chance to recreate the kind of hostile environment LSU will walk into on the road. The result was exactly the sort of charged backdrop this rivalry tends to attract, with signs, noise and plenty of pointed energy aimed at Kiffin and the team.
For LSU, the practical value is obvious: a little extra discomfort now could help when the real crowd gets involved. For Kiffin, the setting only added another layer to a matchup already carrying its own history, since he previously coached at Ole Miss before leaving in November. With the Tigers headed into that trip, the noise around practice was a reminder that this one is about more than just a football game. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got A GameDay Pick That Fans Will Love
The buildup around LSUs trip to Oxford already had the feel of one of the seasons biggest SEC showdowns, with the No. 7 Tigers set for a primetime meeting against No. 8 Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Now the stage has gotten even brighter, with College GameDay heading to the matchup and ABC carrying the game as part of a broadcast lineup that includes Chris Fowler, Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge.
For a rivalry-like game with rankings this tight, the pregame spotlight is almost as much a part of the story as the snap-to-snap action, and this one will have plenty of it. Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban will be on hand for the show, joined by celebrity guest Morgan Freeman, giving the weekend an extra layer of buzz before LSU and Ole Miss even take the field. [Read more 🡒]