Leavitt’s Upgrade Leaves Oxford Guessing at Quarterback

LSU listed quarterback Sam Leavitt as questionable on Thursday, one step up from doubtful for Saturday at No. 8 Ole Miss. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, with No. 7 LSU (2-0) opening SEC play on the road.

The new tag still leaves Oxford planning for two quarterbacks. It already moved a top-10 spread, and it puts Lane Kiffin’s own report history in front of a conference rule that names starting quarterbacks as the players schools must handle with extra care.

Leavitt Moves From Doubtful to a Coin Flip

The Southeastern Conference does not print a diagnosis. Questionable means a 50% chance to play. Doubtful, the Wednesday listing, means 25% and “unlikely to play due to significant concerns.”

Matt Moscona, citing multiple sources, said back spasms kept Leavitt out of Wednesday’s workout and that he practiced Thursday morning. Pete Nakos, also citing sources, said the issue included a sore throwing shoulder, that Leavitt did not throw Wednesday, and that people with the program still expected him to play Saturday.

Matt Zenitz confirmed he took part in Thursday’s walkthrough. Leavitt missed a Tuesday media session an LSU spokesperson had scheduled. Kiffin did not discuss the quarterback’s health at his Monday news conference or on his Thursday night radio show.

After the 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech, Leavitt had spoken as if the body was a work in progress, not a crisis.

I’m just focusing on tonight, getting better, getting the body healthy. But no, it’s going to be an incredible opportunity.

Sam Leavitt, LSU quarterback, after Louisiana Tech

He did not look hurt in that game, and he had not missed snaps in the first two wins except late in blowouts. In two games he is 41 of 66 for 574 yards, two passing scores, and four interceptions, and he has run for 135 yards and five rushing touchdowns.

LEAVITT THROUGH TWO GAMES

• Clemson: 230 passing yards, one score, one interception, plus 113 rushing yards and two scores in a 51-10 win.
• Louisiana Tech: 344 passing yards, one score, three interceptions, and three rushing scores in a 45-14 win.
• Portal rank: LSU’s bio lists him as the No. 1 rated portal quarterback from January, a Big 12 freshman of the year at Arizona State.

Those five rushing scores are why a limited Leavitt is not the same problem as an absent one. Ole Miss still has to account for a quarterback who has scored more with his legs than his arm.

Oxford Already Had Enough Without a Hidden Quarterback

The Associated Press poll of Sept. 13 has LSU at No. 7 and Ole Miss at No. 8, the first time these programs have met as AP top-10 teams since 1962. LSU leads the series 65-39-3, though Ole Miss has won three of the last five, including last season in Oxford.

Kiffin left the Rebels before their first College Football Playoff run in 2025 to take the LSU job, and Pete Golding, his former defensive coordinator, is now the head coach across the field. Kiffin went 55-19 in six seasons in Oxford. He has told his players the noise will sit on him, and that the pressure sits with a program that won 13 games last year while LSU won seven.

“There’s going to be so much attention, hatred, everything on me. Really, the pressure’s on (the Rebels),” Kiffin said. ESPN’s College GameDay is on campus for the trip, a destination the show locked in a month early.

Golding spent years hearing Kiffin talk about what he hates to defend. Kiffin said that familiarity helps Ole Miss more than LSU, because the staff split and some of the players split with it. Linebacker TJ Dottery, LSU’s leading tackler and another Oxford transfer, is also questionable on the Thursday report.

LSU has allowed two offensive touchdowns in two games. Ole Miss just took Louisville 41-38 and still has Trinidad Chambliss, the quarterback who took over last September when Austin Simmons went down. A dual-threat LSU starter changes that math. A backup who has thrown 10 passes this season changes it again.

The Report That Moved a Top-10 Spread

The first listing did what the conference said these reports were built to do: it moved money in public. LSU had been a 3- or 3.5-point road favorite. After the doubtful tag some books cut that number to 1 point. After the Thursday upgrade and the practice reports, the spread settled near 2.5, with 62% of FanDuel bets and 66% of the money still on LSU.

HOW THE LINE MOVED

Sources on the Ole Miss staff told Pete Thamel on Thursday morning they were not convinced the first listing was sincere. That is the second problem the tag created. Golding’s coaches cannot treat a 50% quarterback as a decoy if the last two games say he is also LSU’s leading rusher in the end zone, and they cannot ignore Husan Longstreet and Landen Clark if the first snap belongs to someone else.

A report built to kill inside information instead gave Oxford a week of split preparation. That is the cost even if Leavitt plays every down.

Kiffin Has Walked This Line in Oxford Before

Last September, with Kiffin still in Oxford, Simmons was listed as probable on the initial report, then as available later in the week, before a game against Arkansas. He did not start. Trinidad Chambliss did. Simmons dressed, warmed up, played four snaps, and threw a touchdown pass. The conference said that was not a violation.

Garth Glissman, the SEC associate commissioner who oversees the reports, wrote that Simmons had been probable, then available, had fully participated in pregame, and had played in a competitive league game. Under those facts, listing him available from Thursday onward held up.

It’s an availability report, it’s not a specific injury report. If a player’s available, he’s available and he was and played in the game.

Lane Kiffin, then Ole Miss coach, on the SEC weekly teleconference

Chambliss kept the job and is the man Kiffin has to stop on Saturday. The same coach now brings a different quarterback into the same stadium under the same paperwork. The gray area has not closed. A player can be available without being the starter, and a player can be questionable without being a decoy, and the office in Birmingham is left to sort those cases after the fact.

The Policy Names the Starting Quarterback

The league began requiring public reports three days before kickoff in August 2024, with daily updates and a last filing 90 minutes before the game. Commissioner Greg Sankey said the point was to cut the hunt for inside information and to protect players and the integrity of the games. The form lists only a name and a status. It does not list a body part.

This availability reporting policy is intended to reduce pressure from outside entities seeking participation information and represents a commitment of our 16 institutions to provide enhanced transparency to support efforts to protect our student-athletes and the integrity of competition.

Greg Sankey, SEC commissioner, Aug. 29, 2024

The written policy is blunter than a press release. It bans gamesmanship meant to hide a player’s true status. It bans other conduct that would mislead or create needless confusion. It tells schools to take extra care for a starting quarterback. The head coach is on the hook for compliance.

WHAT EACH TAG MEANS

• Out: Will not play, a 0% chance.
• Doubtful: Unlikely to play, a 25% chance.
• Questionable: Uncertain to play, a 50% chance.
• Probable: Expected to play, a 75% chance.

A first football offense is a $25,000 fine, a second is $50,000, and a third is $100,000, with other measures available, including for the coach. One example of bad faith in the document is a high-profile player listed as doubtful through the week, then a game-time decision, then playing his normal role for several games with no honest reason. Another is a star listed as available all week who does not play, after practices that already showed he could not.

The same document also tells schools to avoid a surprise. Status is supposed to move in steps, not jump from out to available. Listing Leavitt doubtful, then questionable, then letting him play is the path the rule prefers if Wednesday’s limitation was real. Listing him doubtful as theater is the path it fines. The public argument that a 25% tag forbids him from taking a snap is not what the policy says.

Who Plays If Leavitt Cannot Go?

Longstreet is listed second on LSU’s depth chart, a USC transfer and a former five-star recruit. Clark, the Elon transfer, has come off the bench first in both wins even though the chart has him third. If Leavitt cannot go, one of those two starts in a stadium that will not wait for on-the-job training.

LSU QUARTERBACKS THROUGH TWO GAMES

Clark threw for 2,321 yards and 18 scores at Elon in 2025 and ran for 11 more, and he was the CAA co-offensive rookie of the year. Longstreet was the No. 4 quarterback and No. 32 player in the 2025 class, per 247Sports. Neither has taken an SEC snap. Ole Miss does not have to guess which skill set arrives if the report is honest. It has to prepare for both, plus the version of Leavitt who can run but may not want to throw 40 times on a sore shoulder.

Thursday’s LSU report also listed receiver Phillip Wright III, linebacker Jaiden Braker, and running back Raycine Guillory Jr. as out. Linebackers Tylen Singleton and Davhon Keys and lineman Aliou Bah were probable. Tight end Trey’Dez Green and linebacker Whit Weeks came off the report. Ole Miss listed cornerback Victor Lincoln Jr. and lineman Emanuel Faulkner as out, lineman Tommy Kinsler IV as questionable, and linebacker Keaton Thomas, cornerback Cedrick Beavers, and running back Makhi Frazier as probable.

Two More Filings Before Kickoff

Football schools owe a Wednesday initial report by 7 p.m. Central, then a Thursday update and a Friday update after practice and before that same 7 p.m. window. Game day shrinks the menu to available, game-time decision, or out, and that last paper is due 90 minutes before kickoff.

THE WEEK’S PAPER TRAIL

1. Wednesday, Sept. 16: LSU lists Leavitt as doubtful on the first SEC report.
2. Thursday morning, Sept. 17: He returns to practice after Wednesday back spasms, per Moscona’s sources.
3. Thursday night, Sept. 17: The conference posts the upgrade to questionable; Dottery stays questionable.
4. Friday, Sept. 18: A third report is due after practice and before 7 p.m. Central.
5. Saturday, Sept. 19: Final status is due 90 minutes before the 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.

As of the Thursday filing, Leavitt is still a coin flip on paper. Nakos’s sources have him playing. Ole Miss staff have him, at minimum, as a riddle Kiffin is happy to leave unsolved. The next document is the one that has to pick a side, or leave him a game-time decision and make Golding wait until warmups in a stadium that used to be Kiffin’s.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a college football injury listing, a conference policy, and related betting-market movement. It is informational only and is not medical advice, legal advice, or a recommendation to place, raise, or hedge a wager on LSU, Ole Miss, or any other team. Readers who are considering a bet should consult a licensed sportsbook in a jurisdiction where sports betting is legal, and anyone making a health or eligibility decision should consult a qualified physician or the relevant athletic department. Figures, designations, and lines reflect the public reports and market quotes cited here and can change with Friday’s filing, the 90-minute update, and kickoff.