Guess who is giving Kenny Dillingham and the Arizona State Sun Devils sleepless nights at the moment? Has to be their quarterback, Sam Leavitt. He is officially inactive. The Arizona State fans’ hearts were broken when Dillingham’s star, Leavitt, was spotted walking into Rice-Eccles Stadium during the Utah afce-off with a boot. The head coach said on his weekly radio appearance that Leavitt had been dealing with an undisclosed injury since their face-off against Baylor on September 21. But looks like the recovery gods are now blessing Dillingham’s quarterback, little by little, before their game against Texas Tech this weekend, October 18.

On October 15, Pete Thamel dropped an update. He wrote, “Sorices: Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt is expected to be probable for the Sun Devils and is in line to play Saturday against No. 7 Texas Tech. He’s looked improved in practice this week as he battles through a lower-body injury.” On October 12, Arizona Republic analyst Logan Stanley dropped an update on how Leavitt has been classified by Dillingham as “day-to-day” ahead of the game against No. 7 Texas Tech. 

He reported that it’s an ankle injury that sidelined Dillingham’s quarterback. “I think we’re gonna have a conversation here today/tomorrow morning in terms of what that looks like. I thought he moved around pretty good today. He moved in the pocket a little bit today, you know, last week he never left the pocket, so we didn’t really know. Today he moved around in the pocket which was a positive,” assured the head coach. 

Going by Wednesday’s update, Leavitt is more likely to put up his gears and hit the Mountain America Stadium. Dillingham seemed content with the strides Leavitt has been making to hit the ‘100% recovered’ button. On October 14, going by the quarterback’s practice tape, he was able to move around the pocket more than he had in the previous week. Grand news, isn’t it?

Then came Leavitt’s October 15 practice clip. The biggest improvement? The tape that had wrapped Leavitt’s right foot a day earlier was gone. However, can Dillingham and co. sleep in peace yet? No. Fans couldn’t ignore the fact that the quarterback still had a white compression sleeve on his right leg. But that did not stop Leavitt from making strides on the gridiron. He took all the first-team reps. Later, Leavitt was also spotted in a peppy mood. 

He rushed to his teammate to celebrate after throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to true freshman Demarius “Man Man” Robinson. “I feel good about Sam. I feel good about him right now,” Dillingham said. “There’s still two more days, but I feel really good about Sam and where he’s at.” With 1,039 yards and eight touchdowns already under his belt, Leavitt has been the spark behind Arizona State’s 4-1 surge and flawless Big 12 record.

In that case, without their quarterback, the Sun Devils might be feeling like a wagon with broken wheels. Meanwhile, if Leavitt is healthy and back, it would snatch away the opportunity for Jeff Sims to start a game for the second time in Dillingham’s camp this season. So, will he be upset?

Jeff Sims’ respect for Sam Leavitt

Dillingham did not get much time to plan an alternative scheme when Leavitt was downgraded from “probable” to “doubtful” within 24 hours before the Utah face-off. That’s when it was time for Sims to do his job in Leavitt’s absence. Against Utah, he came up with 18 passes out of 38 attempts for 124 yards, while also taking 21 carries for 52 yards. 

Sim transferred to Arizona State in April of 2024 while narrowly losing out on the starting battle to Leavitt. He got his first shot under center last October 19, a 24-14 loss to Cincinnati. But this time, the stage is bigger and the spotlight brighter. With Leavitt coming up to snatch away his chance to leave a mark on the gridiron, Sims might not be upset. After all, he has always made Sims sit on a pedestal. “Sam is a great quarterback,” he said to Fox10Phoenix’s Blake Niemann.

Sims, since 2020, has made multiple stops through Nebraska and Georgia Tech, starting over 26 games. Going by his experience, he only had good words to say about Leavitt. “I mean, Sam can go all the way. He can go as far as he wants to go. The sky is the limit for him, and just being around a guy like that and competing against him every day is good,” said the backup quarterback. 

However, it’s important that Dillingham takes lessons from Brent Venables and not rush Sam Leavitt’s recovery. We have seen the Oklahoma head coach do it and turn John Mateer into a laughingstock.