Four interceptions, and now a shoulder
LSU have won both their games and Sam Leavitt has thrown four interceptions doing it. That was the open question about the quarterback before Wednesday night. Now there is a second one, and it matters more.
On3 reported late on Wednesday that Leavitt is dealing with soreness in his throwing shoulder and has been limited in practice this week. He is listed as doubtful for Saturday’s trip to Ole Miss, a meeting of No. 7 and No. 8 in the SEC. Under the conference’s availability policy, doubtful means a player is unlikely to play because of significant concerns, with roughly a 25% chance of taking the field.
Nothing about last Saturday suggested this was coming. Leavitt finished the 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech, spoke to reporters afterwards and gave no hint of a problem. “I’m just focusing on tonight, getting better, getting the body healthy,” he said. He was scheduled to meet the media again on Tuesday and did not appear. Lane Kiffin said nothing about his condition at Monday’s news conference.
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What LSU would be losing
Leavitt arrived from Arizona State once Kiffin took the job, bringing two years as a starter and a Big 12 Freshman of the Year award with him. In Baton Rouge he has been uneven and productive at the same time. He has completed 41 of 66 passes for 574 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions, numbers that do not flatter him, and he has rushed for 135 yards and five scores, which do.
The pattern held across both games. He threw a touchdown and ran for two in the 51-10 opening rout of Clemson, then threw one and ran for three against Louisiana Tech while giving the ball away three times. LSU have won so far because the rest of the roster overwhelmed the opposition. Ole Miss will not be overwhelmed.
TJ Dottery, the team’s leading tackler, is questionable for the same game.
The alternatives have thrown 11 passes between them
If Leavitt sits, Kiffin chooses between sophomore Landen Clark and freshman Husan Longstreet. Clark has completed seven of 10 attempts for 109 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, all of it in games already decided. Longstreet has thrown once, a 33-yard completion. That is the entire body of evidence heading into a top-10 road game in Oxford.
The SEC fines programmes between $25,000 and $100,000 for late or inaccurate availability reports, with commissioner Greg Sankey deciding whether to apply them. Which is one reason to take the doubtful tag at face value rather than as gamesmanship before a rivalry week.
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