Arizona State QB drawing comparisons to Jayden Daniels
Arizona State redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt is used to being overlooked.
A four-star class of 2023 quarterback out of West Linn High School in Oregon, Leavitt wasn't even offered scholarships by his two home state Power 4 programs, Oregon and Oregon State. He eventually signed with Michigan State, then entered the transfer portal after his freshman season when former Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith was hired in East Lansing.
"I don't know if I'm considering staying - just with previous relations with this staff. I've made my decision in terms of Michigan State," Leavitt told SI's Andrew Nemec at the time. "Being a hometown kid and not getting an offer from [Oregon State] felt disrespectful, so that's always stuck with me."
Kenny Dillingham was the offensive coordinator at Florida State during Leavitt's sophomore and junior seasons of high school. He recruited Leavitt hard and offered him a scholarship before taking the offensive coordinator position at Oregon. When Leavitt entered the transfer portal last year, Dillingham pounced.
Six games into his Arizona State career, Leavitt has been a difference maker. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound dual-threat quarterback has passed for 1,116 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for 279 yards and four TDs. More importantly, he led the Sun Devils to victory in five of his six starts and commanded an offense that put up 32.2 points per game.
His stellar play is already drawing comparisons to former Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels, the frontrunner for 2024 NFL Rookie of the Year.
During Arizona State's road game at Cincinnati on Saturday, ESPN posted a graphic comparing Daniels and Leavitt. In the last 25 years they are the only Arizona State quarterbacks to throw for at least 1,000 yards and rush for at least 275 in their first six starts.
Shocking graphic pic.twitter.com/oWCUEmYJFc
— Erik Ruby (@ErikRuby) October 19, 2024
That is impressive company to be in for Leavitt.
Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last season at LSU and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL Draft. Through the first seven games of his NFL career he has passed for 1,410 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 372 yards and four touchdowns. He left Sunday's win over Carolina in the first quarter with a rib injury and is undergoing further tests on Monday to determine the extent of the injury.
Leavitt is also dealing with a rib injury that sidelined him for the Sun Devils' 24-14 loss at Cincinnati. It was the lowest point total of the season for ASU by a wide margin and more than 18 points below their season average. It underscored how valuable Leavitt is to ASU's offense.
With a bye week to heal, Dillingham is hoping to have Leavitt back for Arizona State's next game on Nov. 2 at Oklahoma State.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.