Lane Kiffin’s first season at LSU will come with the usual noise that follows a program expected to chase the College Football Playoff. But the biggest question in Baton Rouge may be simpler than all that: what does a real win look like for Sam Leavitt in 2026?
Kiffin brought Leavitt with him to run the offense, and the fit is obvious on paper. Leavitt has already shown he can handle big moments, and he arrives with a résumé that includes a trip to the College Football Playoffs. He also brings the kind of mobility that lets him turn broken plays into something dangerous.
There’s still room for more. Leavitt’s career high for passing yards in a season is 2,885, and that number sits right next to the kind of production Kiffin has usually gotten from his quarterbacks. Over six seasons at Ole Miss, only once did Kiffin have a quarterback finish with fewer than 3,000 passing yards.
The bigger issue, though, is health.
Leavitt got to campus while still recovering from a Lisfranc foot injury he suffered during the 2025 season. He tried to play through it for several weeks, but eventually the decision was made to shut him down and have season-ending surgery so he could be ready for 2026.
After the procedure, and after the pins were removed from his foot once he joined LSU, he appears set for the fall. That matters because Lisfranc injuries can linger, and keeping that problem from following him into the season will be a major part of whether 2026 becomes a full year of growth or something less.
If Leavitt stays healthy and taps into that extra gear LSU believes is there, the ceiling gets a lot higher. The Tigers have talent around him, but they also have plenty of uncertainty, which is why his season will be tied so closely to how far the offense can go.
And if he’s in the Heisman race by the end of the year, that probably means LSU is winning, meeting its goals, and maybe even setting a few new ones along the way.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Just Dragged Two LSU Transfers Into A Legal Fight
A pair of LSU transfers has landed in the middle of a legal mess that stretches back to their time at Ole Miss, where revenue-sharing agreements were signed before the move to Baton Rouge. The school has now filed suit over what it says are unpaid buyout obligations tied to those departures, turning a routine transfer into a contract dispute with real financial stakes.
Ole Miss says it laid out the sequence of agreements, portal entries, transfer dates and payment deadlines before going to court, and LSU has already declined a request to cover the buyout on the players behalf. The case adds another layer to the modern transfer era, where roster movement can carry consequences long after a player leaves campus and where the paperwork can matter as much as the on-field fit. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Coach Lane Kiffin Gets Candid About The Rule Named After Him
Lane Kiffin spent part of SEC Media Days talking about a proposal that carries his name, and he did so with little hesitation. The LSU coach addressed the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, which includes the so-called Lane Kiffin Rule, a measure aimed at stopping coaches from leaving for another job before the season ends and preventing schools from hiring a coach until a teams schedule is complete.
Kiffin said he supports the idea and hopes it keeps future coaches and players from getting caught in the kind of mess he once faced with an in-season move from Ole Miss. He pointed to the NFL as a model for how the sport handles coaching movement, and also noted the recent shift in the transfer portal calendar as another attempt to clean up a related problem for players. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Suddenly Has A Real Fight On Its Hands For Elite Commit}
Maxwell Hiller has become one of the more watched names in the 2027 recruiting cycle, and for good reason. The five-star offensive tackle is a premier talent, ranked near the top of the class and already viewed as a centerpiece for Floridas future, which is why his pledge has carried so much weight for the Gators as they try to build momentum on the trail.
But the recruiting battle around Hiller is far from settled, and that is where things get interesting for LSU fans following along. He has left the door open to taking visits during the season, and with rival programs still pushing hard to make their case, Florida has real work to do if it wants to keep one of the classs most coveted linemen from turning into a full-blown flip chase. [Read more 🡒]