When LSU landed $3.1 million QB Sam Leavitt from the transfer portal on January 11th, the celebration in Baton Rouge was tempered by one nagging question: What’s the deal with his foot injury? Former LSU reporter and Tiger alum Gordy Rush articulated what many were thinking. He said, “That’s a lot of money now. That’s a centerpiece. That’s most expensive person probably on your roster. You’re about to invest in him. And what’s the status of that injury?” It’s a fair concern given Leavitt is rehabbing an injury known to derail careers if not handled carefully.

That’s when Brandon Taylor, another former LSU safety and team captain from the 2011 SEC Championship squad, jumped into the conversation with reassurance based on personal experience. Taylor tweeted, “If you recall @JacquesDoucet I had the same Liz Franc injury my Junior year against Bama. After an intense rehab, that next season (2011) was my best year at LSU. He will be fine me and Jack Marucci went over a break down of my rehab schedule this morning 💪🏾💪🏾.”

Taylor’s story is almost eerily similar to Sam Leavitt’s situation. He injured his right leg (specifically his foot) early in the 2010 Alabama game, missed the rest of that season, and then came back in 2011 to post the best year of his college career. Taylor started all 14 games as LSU’s safety that season, ranking third on the team with 71 tackles while earning a spot as one of five permanent team captains for a Tigers team that won the SEC and played for the national championship.

The Lisfranc injury has ended seasons and diminished the effectiveness of numerous athletes across all sports. Leavitt initially suffered the injury against Baylor. But he tried to play through it for four more weeks against TCU, Texas Tech, and Houston. He ultimately re-aggravated it so badly that surgery became unavoidable. He finished his shortened 2025 campaign with 1,628 passing yards on 60.7% completion and 10 touchdown passes. 

The parallels don’t stop with Taylor, either. LSU fans with long memories have pointed out that LSU quarterback Matt Mauck suffered the same Lisfranc injury at roughly the same point in the 2002 season as Sam Leavitt did in 2025. He later led the team to win the 2003 national championship. 

Mauck came back from that injury to have a legendary 2003 campaign, throwing for 2,825 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading LSU to the program’s second national title. The track record for LSU quarterbacks recovering from this specific injury is actually pretty encouraging when you dig into the history. So, according to the history and anatomy, Leavitt must be ready sometime around the fall. And yes, he’ll be just like he was before the surgery.

Building a championship roster beyond just Leavitt

The concerns about Leavitt’s Lisfranc injury have been eased not just by Brandon Taylor’s reassurance, but by the fact that Lane Kiffin isn’t putting all his eggs in one basket. LSU signed USC transfer quarterback Husan Longstreet, adding another former five-star recruit to a quarterback room that already includes Leavitt and Elon’s Landen Clark.

Longstreet was the No. 21 overall player and fourth-ranked quarterback in the 2025 recruiting class. He signed with the Trojans after previously being committed to Texas A&M. The Louisiana native has four years of eligibility remaining and wanted to return home to play in the SEC. Clark, the CAA Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year, threw for 2,231 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 11 more scores in his breakout 2025 season at Elon. Together, these three additions give LSU arguably the most talented and competitive quarterback depth chart in the country.

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The quarterback haul is impressive enough. But Kiffin also convinced sophomore running back Caden Durham to withdraw from the transfer portal. Durham rushed for 505 yards and three touchdowns on 111 carries in 2025 despite playing behind an inconsistent offensive line. So the injury concerns around Leavitt are legitimate. But LSU has built in insurance policies with Longstreet and Clark. Moreover, Kiffin is attacking the roster rebuild with the same urgency and ruthlessness that had him flying to Knoxville to close Leavitt. And it’s working.