Lane Kiffin is already getting his first taste of adversity as the head coach of the LSU Tigers.
After jumping to a 2-0 start to the season, LSU fell short to Ole Miss in Kiffin’s return to Oxford. A large portion of the blame was placed on LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, who completed 9 of 13 passes for just 46 yards in the first half. Even though he bounced back in the second half and made several big plays, he ended up throwing the game-sealing interception in the red zone while trailing 32-24.
Leavitt, who transferred from Arizona State, was supposed to elevate Kiffin’s offense this season. In three starts so far, he’s thrown for 732 passing yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions.
During this Wednesday’s episode of “Get Up,” ESPN analyst Jordan Rodgers issued a warning to Leavitt. He believes the talented quarterback should be on a “short leash” due to his recent struggles.
“LSU might be a 7 or 8 win football team if Sam Leavitt continues to play backyard football,” Rodgers said.
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Will LSU make a quarterback change?
While speaking to the media this week, Kiffin defended Leavitt’s struggles against Ole Miss.
“I broke that down to the team so they understand, because I think often players see social media or whatever, and I don’t know what it says, but I bet it says this week,” Kiffin said, via LSU Tigers on SI. “Okay, man, they showed the open receivers, you know, and Sam not hitting open receivers in the game — probably three different touchdowns — but then I break it down to them so they see. Okay, hey, wait, that seems easy. Just throw the ball to the open guy for a touchdown. But when you get impacted early in the game by the rush, they did a really good job.”
Does this mean Kiffin is committed to Leavitt regardless of the results? No, but he won’t name Landen Clark the starter after just one loss.
Besides, Leavitt can silence the critics by leading LSU to a win over Texas A&M this Saturday.
