No. 1 transfer portal QB schedules SEC visits amid recruitment battle

The NCAA transfer portal has opened for all college football players in search of new horizons for their careers next season. The portal officially opened on Friday and will not close until Jan. 16.

In the weeks following the end of the 2025 regular season, more than 3,000 different college football players chose to enter the transfer portal to find a new program to play for. The biggest buzz around the portal entries is the upcoming realignment of quarterbacks across the power conferences.

The first quarterback to announce he was transferring was former Arizona State signal-caller Sam Leavitt. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining at his third school.

Leavitt entered the transfer portal with a "do not contact" tag. Though it is not always the case, it usually means a player has a future destination in mind when transferring with the tag.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder started his college football career with Mel Tucker at Michigan State. He appeared in four games, completing 15 of 23 passes for 139 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and rushing for another 67 yards. Tucker was let go with cause early in the season, and Leavitt transferred to Arizona State the following offseason.

Leavitt's first season with the Sun Devils was a prolific one. He passed for 2,885 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions and ran for 443 yards and five touchdowns. He helped guide the Sun Devils to a 12-2 record, a Big 12 Championship victory, and a College Football Playoff appearance in 2024.

The 2024 performance earned Leavitt recognition from the Big 12. He was named Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and All-Big 12 Second Team for his accomplishments that season. The 2,885 passing yards are the most from a freshman quarterback in Arizona State history.

Leavitt suffered a Lisfranc injury in 2025, cutting his season to just seven games. He threw for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions while running for another 306 yards and five touchdowns.

With a handful of major college football programs already deciding on their 2026 quarterback via the portal, Leavitt's options for next season are beginning to thin out. Shea Dixon of The Bengal Tiger reported that Leavitt has a multi-day visit scheduled to LSU on Monday.

New: Arizona State transfer QB Sam Leavitt arrives at LSU soon for a multi-day campus visit.

Could Leavitt - the No. 1 ranked transfer QB on the @On3sports Industry Rankings - be the starter Lane Kiffin signs?@SWiltfong_ shared what he's hearing:➡️ https://t.co/BeuD5rqg6H pic.twitter.com/Ez4A3XOKay
— Shea Dixon (@Sheadixon) January 5, 2026

With Garrett Nussmeier heading for the NFL draft, Lane Kiffin will need to find a replacement quarterback in the portal in his first season at LSU. Kiffin is no stranger to utilizing the portal to acquire starting quarterbacks; Jaxson Dart (USC) and Trinidad Chambliss (Ferris State) both started at Ole Miss during Kiffin's tenure there.

The other SEC program that appears to be fighting hard for Leavitt is Kentucky. Interestingly, Wildcats 2025 starter Cutter Boley transferred away from Kentucky to Arizona State following the coaching change from Mark Stoops to Will Stein.

While Kentucky has just entered a new era of football, it has a reputation for utilizing transfer quarterbacks dating back almost 10 years.

Stephen Johnson (Grambling State), Terry Wilson Jr. (Oregon), Will Levis (Penn State), Devin Leary (NC State), Brock Vandagriff (Georgia), Gavin Wimsatt (Rutgers) and Zach Calzada (Texas A&M, Auburn and Incarnate Word) are transfer quarterbacks to start for Kentucky since 2016.

Sam Leavitt during Arizona State's game against Texas Tech. — Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) against the Texas Tech Red Raiders | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images