One Offseason Decision Lane Kiffin Can't Afford to Get Wrong

LSU football has many questions to answer during fall camp as Lane Kiffin takes over for his first fall as LSU's head coach. He's got a talented roster, mountain-high expectations and a nearly fully rebuilt program.

But it's clear that Sam Leavitt's foot is simply the one decision that LSU can't afford to get wrong this fall.

Kiffin picked Leavitt to be his starting quarterback in the middle of a rehab window, and his growth and healing are vitally important to the plan LSU's staff has in place for this offense.

Besides the stakes this season, LSU fans have already lived through the cost of pushing a banged-up quarterback last year. They don't wanna see it again.

Leavitt's Timeline

Sep 6, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) drops back to pass during the third quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Leavitt suffered his foot injury last season at Arizona State, and he arrived in Baton Rouge already working through a rehab plan. Kiffin and the LSU staff have talked openly about easing him back into full team reps rather than rushing the transition. That's what they did during spring practice.

But now it's time for fall camp, and it's time to see if Leavitt is ready for the season.

The Tigers open the season on September 5 against Clemson, a hard test that will immediately reveal whether Leavitt is truly ready. Every practice rep between now and then is a vision of how well LSU manages his return.

A quarterback protecting an injury looks a lot different than one playing free, and defenses across the SEC will be hunting for that tell. Just ask LSU fans who watched every game in 2025.

The Deja Vu of 2025

LSU's 2025 season was supposed to be a playoff run behind Garrett Nussmeier, and instead it became a tale about health management. One LSU fans will not forget about in a long time.

He played through months of abdominal and oblique pain that turned out to stem from a spinal cyst, and the offense never found rhythm because of it.

The Tigers backed their guy publicly all season, insisting the injury wasn't serious while Nussmeier's efficiency and explosiveness both dipped. The step back was so clear that it could only be because of his injury.

By the time the season was already lost and Nussmeier was heading into the draft, it was way too late. Nussmeier was already a shell of the Heisman candidate he was at this time last season.

That's the exact thing Kiffin has to avoid repeating with Leavitt.

If LSU downplays the foot injury the way the previous staff downplayed Nussmeier's, the Tigers risk another year of a well-tooled quarterback grinding through pain instead of playing at full speed. It's bad for the program and the player alike.

What's Actually at Stake

Jul 23, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LSU spent the offseason budget landing a historic transfer class that came in as the No. 1 class in the country, and Leavitt was the centerpiece of that investment. If he's not right physically, the whole roster-build risks looking like a wasted cycle no matter how deep the rest of the depth chart is.

Kiffin has talked about needing two to three years to fully show why he came to LSU, but a QB injury mishandled in year one could set that timeline back. A shaky or limited Leavitt against Clemson would also reignite every skeptical take about Kiffin's fit at a program under this much pressure.

There's also the backup picture to consider, with Husan Longstreet and Landen Clark both in the room as insurance. How much LSU leans on that depth in September, rather than rushing Leavitt back too early, will say a lot about whether this staff actually learned from its predecessors last year.

That's all of course if he isn't where Kiffin says he is for fall camp.

But if he's not ready, he shouldn't go. Tiger fans don't want to be having this same conversation about a different quarterback next December.

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