Sam Leavitt wins ASU quarterback battle over Jeff Sims, named starter

After months of speculation as to who will be the starting quarterback for ASU this season, Michigan State transfer Sam Leavitt has been named as QB1 heading into the Sun Devils’ first season in the Big 12 Conference.

Sun Devils found their guy

Back when Jaden Rashada entered the transfer portal and committed to Georgia, it was unknown who was going to take the reigns from that point onward. Out of the quarterbacks they had left, Leavitt stood out in the spring and looked as if he was the favorite heading into this fall.

For the most part in training camp so far, Leavitt has impressed while taking part in first-team reps and has shown his true potential of what he can deliver for Arizona State.

Making the rumors official, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham announced the move but remains confident in all of his quarterbacks.

“Sam Leavitt is going to be our starting quarterback,” Dillingham said post-practice on Monday. “We talked to him and Jeff yesterday [Sunday], so Sam is going to be the starter going into the season. We are fired up, we believe we have a lot of quarterbacks on this team that can win football games and I feel our quarterback depth is really good to be honest. I am really confident with all three of our quarterbacks right now.”

Leavitt was ranked a four-star recruit out of West Linn (Ore.) High School by 247Sports and committed to Michigan State. While Arizona State’s arch-rival Arizona tried to recruit him, he did receive an offer from Florida State when Dillingham was the Seminoles’ offensive coordinator at the time, so the interest from both the player and coach to unite is mutual a year later.

At Michigan State, the Oregon native completed 15-of-23 passes (65%) for 139 yards and threw two touchdowns while rushing 13 times for an additional 67 yards. In order to redshirt during his first year of collegiate football, Leavitt played just four games in 2023.

Watching and analyzing what Leavitt has done to get to this point two weeks before the first game of the season, ASU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo identified there were multiple, key factors leading up to this decision.

“When you feel like you got an identity and where you need to be at that point and you feel comfortable with the way things that are going, you can name a guy,” Arroyo said. “It gets exciting because it gives you about two weeks to ramp up, to really get the chemistry and timing and to solidify that position. It’s earned, not given.”

As for Sims, he will be the backup quarterback unless something changes as the season gets underway. Sims spent last year at Nebraska after three seasons (2020-22) at Georgia Tech. Appearing in five games (two starts) with the Cornhuskers this past year, the 22-year-old completed 28-of-47 passes (59.6%) for 282 yards and threw a touchdown.

Arizona State begins the 2024 season at home when they face Wyoming on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. PT.