LSU QB Sam Leavitt has to make a HUGE STATEMENT on the road vs Auburn this Saturday

Because I would say, and the funny thing is, we look at those numbers and you see the touchdowns to the interception ratio, I mean all of those things. He's got 14 passing touchdowns to 8 interceptions. But after the first three games, he had a 3-5 ratio. He was three touchdowns to five picks. So if you do some simple math and you subtract, since that Ole Miss game, the next four games after A&M, McNeese, Kentucky, last week Mississippi State. His ratio has gone from 3-5 to 11-3. 11 passing touchdowns to 3 interceptions. His completion percentage has gone up from 61% to 77%. He had 732 yards in those first 3 games over the next 4, 1,053. He's gone from averaging 1 touchdown per game to almost 3 touchdowns per game. So you've seen over the stretch since that Ole Miss game and he has the A&M game and we talked about it after A&M with the injury and stuff is it interesting to you Lloyd that we talked about like maybe the injury helped him and kind of now the numbers are bearing out that that's kind of what the shift was it's the Ole Miss loss into being forced into the pocket versus A&M and it's really kind of shifted the way he's performed up to this point it has but and it's such an interesting thing because I think it is a product of – we have to go back from the start with Sam Leavitt as to why this has been kind of a slow burn for him. Coming off an injury, interesting way to get to LSU, first of all. Coming off of an injury, kind of is around camp but isn't in camp, gets the pins taken out of his foot, so now he's not practicing at all, and is thrust into – he's obviously the starter. Right. And I think the start of – you can always go back to LSU Clemson to be like, Like, I think everybody's expectations shot up a little bit, even for Sam Leavitt, because what was the number one question going in? It's like, is the foot okay? Right. And he's running around like a banshee, and you're like, okay, the foot's fine. Like, this is an exciting brand of football. And then it became like, oh, I think he kind of almost bought into the narrative. Like, thank God I'm healthy. I'm going to use my legs a lot. And it's a byproduct of not knowing the system yet. And it's not only him. It's the entire wide receiver tight end room. They haven't played together. yeah so all of this stuff shouldn't be that surprising because you have to have reps together you have to be healthy and it's finally kind of coming together and while I do think the hamstring maybe slowed him down but I think it's just a a byproduct of the timing of it of both of them like he's learning the system they're getting on the same page the hamstring happens so now he has to be in the pocket like it's just a it's a it's a mix of things that you would think would be bad but actually ended up working in his favor and it's all building up to what you're seeing right now because i don't before the year while we watch Sam Leavitt play with one of the most bizarre mix of highlights and you can't really say low lights right just just an interesting mixtape of this guy plays a brand of football that i think is one of one yeah and that's going to be your experience like that's what i said if anything it's gonna be fun yeah and it was and it still is but i think that he also didn't turn the ball over that much like we were like it's a lot of throws that he's taking chances in one that you're like, well, I can't believe he can... A lot of turnover-worthy plays, but not a lot of turnovers. Right, and now it feels like it's the opposite. It's a flip, it is. Where it's tips and it's bad. Like, I wouldn't even say the first one against Clemson. It was somewhat inaccurate, but it's bad luck where... It deserves to be intercepted. No, it's bad luck where the receiver doesn't catch it and it just so happens to bounce out of his hands into the DB's head. And then it became like a theme. Right. Where it was like, he's had some plays that are head-stretchers for sure, but I don't think that it's supposed to be the number that it is because if you take away some of the tips, overthrows, how it just ends up in other people's hands, like misreads, whatever it may be, now he's comfortable in the system and you're seeing finally a game with zero interceptions or zero turnovers from his perspective. And it's like, okay, you're starting to see the Sam Love it that is comfortable in the Lane Kiffin system because the numbers bear it out what Lane Kiffin's offense can do. And that's another thing that I think we've taken kind of for granted as an LSU offense that can always put points on the board. Now, do you want to see 50 every time? Yes, but you're for damn sure getting 30. Right. No, and on top of that, I mean, one of the other differences, Lane's talked a ton about it. We've talked some about it, but not as much in this realm as we – looking at these quarterback numbers, you know, it's very interesting to me. Like, you know, outside of the interceptions, the best quarterback on that list is Sam Leavitt. Yeah. Like, when you look at the numbers. Like, the only number that makes you think twice about it is eight INTs because everything else is the – The other part is, I mean, Jaden played Florida State, Southern, Mississippi State, New Mexico, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida in his first seven games. A tough stretch, but at the same time, had three non-conference games in the first four games of the year. So three out of his first four starts, and it's LSU's fault that one of those non-cons was Florida State and another powerful opponent. But three out of his first four were non-SEC teams. Like I said with Jackson Dart, played Troy, Central Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Tulsa. His first four games in the system against non-conference opponents. Sam Leavitt. You'd be nervous about Jackson Dart with that perspective. I'm sure this is, it comes from USC, it's like, all right, feel it out. That's LSU and those are the numbers. He's not really performing very well. And we're winning. You can always scrub over it because it's a win. But if those were your numbers, you'd be like, why don't you be a little bit better, like five-star Lane Kiffin system, and now you have Sam Leavitt's number. He's not getting the credit he deserves. And that's what I'm saying. And not only to bring that, Leavitt has played Clemson, Tech, Ole Miss, A&M, McNeese State, Kentucky, Mississippi State. Clemson's a powerful opponent week one. And then you have two out of your first four games are SEC teams that were also ranked in the top ten going into the season. Like, because of the nine-game conference schedule, not only is he in the first year learning the system, he doesn't get the same benefit that Dart had, where Dart gets to go play Troy in Central Arkansas. And against Central Arkansas, he's 10 of 15 for 182, right? Georgia Tech, 10 of 16 for 207. Like, you see the training wheels are on at that point. 18 of 27, 13 of 24. Like, in those two games against Central Arkansas and Georgia Tech, he's throwing 15 passes because the training wheels are on. Lane is letting him learn. Sam doesn't have that same benefit. It's guess what? Against Ole Miss and A&M, you have to throw 20-plus passes because you've got to go win. You're playing SEC opponents to start your career. So it's everything you said. It's a mix of all of those things. And when you look at it from that perspective, of everything we've laid out, the only thing that makes you even bat an eye at Leavitt up to this point is that number of interceptions, is that 8 sitting next to the 14. And like we said, if you look at what's transpired since game number 3, everything you've seen since then, his yards have gone up in every game, he's thrown multiple touchdowns in every game since, and the other intriguing part, and part of this is because of the A&M injury potentially, the rushing numbers and usage has gone down. And I'll say, specifically, over the last two games, LSU's rushing attack itself has been lesser. Because against Kentucky and Mississippi State, you only have one rushing touchdown, and it's Leavitt NOT versus Kentucky. After the fact, you had scored six rushing touchdowns versus McNeese, three versus A&M, four versus Tech, four versus Clemson. Your rushing attack has started to dwindle a little bit of getting into the end zone, and it's turned into Leavitt's got to throw the football and get you into the end zone that way. And that's why you see his best game this past weekend, four touchdowns, zero interceptions against Mississippi State. I do want to ask the room and ask the chat, are you happy with where Sam Leavitt is right now as LSU's quarterback? Yeah, I am. I mean, especially where you started off, I think the expectations got a little high for him coming off of Clemson, even though you could kind of see in the Clemson game, okay, the passing attack, not as clean and as crisp as you'd like it to be, but you kind of had, like Lane Kiffin talked about, a little bit of the relief syndrome. He ran for 113 yards, had two electric touchdowns. He won by 41, and you were like, okay, we don't need to talk about this. He's great. You know what I mean? It's an incredible performance. Right, and then the thing that really gets glossed over a lot that you mentioned, like he didn't practice in the spring. He came in late, didn't get here to, or didn't start practicing until the summer fall camp whatever like so that plays a factor into the reason why those first three games weren't as productive as they could have been and for me like I think the way the injury helped him I think it's forced him to be more decisive in the pocket where those first three games if someone unless someone is fully wide open he has this safety blanket of saying okay well if I don't like that 100% and it spooks me a little bit I can just use my legs and then in that Texas A&M game it becomes no I can't use my legs I have to get the ball out quicker even if someone is not a hundred percent wide open and I have to start fitting balls into tight windows that's what I have to do and I can do it because I have the arm talent and the accuracy to do that and he's become so much more confident and comfortable doing that and I think that's where you've seen the biggest improvement and I think you touched on it as well the turnovers like some of them are bad you don't you never want to have eight interceptions and I'll even throw in the One fumble against Kentucky, which was probably the most heinous one. If you go and look at it in terms of turnover-worthy plays, he's actually at the top of the SEC in terms of the best ones, which is the lowest turnover-worthy plays up there with, I forget who else is up there. I think Trinidad Chambliss is up there. And so it just goes to show you a lot of these interceptions are pretty unlucky. The Clemson one. Is it a bad throw? Sure. It's a little bit behind him. Does that deserve to be intercepted? Probably not. The Kentucky throw. That's maybe the one bad ball he threw all night. And it just so happens that Trey Wilson tips it right into the safety's hand. The A&M one, it's a touchdown, but Weston Davis gets bull rushed into the backfield. The ball gets tipped, his arm gets hit, and it's an interception instead of an 80-yard touchdown. So I do think the interceptions are a little bit overblown, but you're going into a tough environment this weekend against Auburn, against a defense who forced three turnovers, two interceptions, and one fumble against Gunnar Stockton. one of the safest and, like, turnover-worthy prone quarterbacks in the country. So I think this is going to be a big test case and a big, you know, basically test case, like, to see how Sam Leavitt is progressing in terms of the turnovers. Because, yeah, I mean, everything else up to this point has progressed massively, right? Like, he went against Ole Miss. He's 59% completion percentage, 158 yards, a one-to-one ratio and then since then like we said it's been 70 plus 73 plus in every game two plus passing touchdowns in every game uh and you've really seen him begin to grow and develop as a quarterback and like you said i think you said perfectly get comfortable and confident within the system uh some other numbers that i wanted to look at is the receiver numbers uh winnie watkins has kind of been consistent and constant through uh the start of the season First three games, 15 catches, 200-plus yards, two touchdowns. Since then, 18 catches, 240 yards, had two touchdowns against McNeese, dropped them. Jackson Harris has gone from five catches, 117 yards in the first three games to over these next four, 22 catches, 339 yards, five touchdowns. Has been huge because not only has Sam performed better since week three. Anybody else remember what else happened in week three? against Ole Miss when it comes to your passing attack? You lost Trey Dez Green. I mean, your number one receiver through the first three games, you lost. And so the call was, yeah, Sam Leavitt needs to get better, but also who is he going to throw to? Because at this point it was kind of you needed it, you're going to seven. And so credit to Jackson Harris. Not only have you seen Sam Leavitt step up, Jackson Harris in the four games since Trey Dez has been hurt, 22 catches, 339 yards, five touchdowns. But Eugene Wilson has kind of been the same first three games, the next four games. Him and Winnie have kind of stayed consistent within their roles. Corey Barber in the first game had one catch for 15 yards, and then over the next four, 10 catches, 107 yards, two touchdowns. The one that I wanted to bring the most attention to in the first three games, Dylan Jones had six catches for 21 yards, and that's three and a half yards per catch. over the next four, and I would really say these last two, 20 catches, 169 receiving yards, 8.5 yards per catch. You have seen a commitment to getting him involved in the passing attack, and you've seen this offense, like we said, really develop and grow where that's almost become Sam's safety blanket instead of him running it. It's been, let me dump it off to 13. Let me just get the ball to Dylan. And there's been times he's maybe gone to it too quickly. But that's better than maybe the alternative of not getting the ball to another playmaker out in the open field. You've seen throughout these last four games, after the Ole Miss game where there was really that wake-up call, right, because it was bad, 159 yards, 59% completion percentage. The offense wasn't flowing. It wasn't just the numbers. It was also the missed reads and the bailing early and the aesthetic of it all as well. Since then, whatever switch they've flipped, you've seen them really, really get comfortable in the offense. I mean, it does help that the defense doesn't have your calls. That does help. Because having that perspective and then looking back at that game, I could see how that could certainly be more true than not because Sam Levitt's coming off the read immediately, and they're being able to get pressure because they know if it's a pass or a run. That's a massive misstep and miscalculation to have to do to your quarterback. It's selfish. But also, when you look at the two losses, what do you notice the most? The two losses? For Sam Levitt's stats. It's the most rushing yards outside of Clemson. Rush attempts. Yeah, rush attempts as well. So that tells me that both games on the road, you're not being able to be fully confident in what your offense and being able to communicate with your wide receivers. You don't necessarily seem to be on the same page, and that's why he's bailing early. So that's why I think this game against Auburn will be, do you go back to the well again? Do you try to feel like you're fully healthy and whenever it's not there, you run it? Are you all the way bought in on having Dylan Jones? Because that is now baked into the offense. Yes. And it is a 1,000% instead of you running it, just drop it off over here. And you can do it too early. There's definitely times for that, but you can't go broke taking a profit because he gives you six every time. And that's why the running attempts from the LSU offense has gone down. That's a de facto run play. and it is something that defenses have yet to adjust to because I don't know if they don't think that Dylan Jones is a threat because he's not necessarily running a route. He's just standing there, and if you don't cover him, I'll just get it to one of my best playmakers of the 11 on the field. Yeah, it's like, here, I'll get it to the running back right now, and it seems to be that can be the replacement for Sam Levitt's rushing ability and also for LSU's running game, and I'm waiting to see for a team to make an adjustment to see what they do whenever that's covered up. And I trust Lane's ability to adjust as well. Yeah. I saw a video, I think Zach posted it on Twitter after the game on Saturday of Charlie Weis and Sam Leavitt like embracing. And it really shows, and that's kind of to your point exactly, okay, if they start to pick up on that and they're taking that away, what's the confidence level in Charlie and Lane and Sam to be able to make the play off of that play? And I think that's come such a long way through the season up to this point. Like, they've seen him make the plays that need to be made. Like, the play that's there, take it. And he's been consistent throughout of it. And I think up to this point, Saturday's going to be such a key test to really look at what these numbers mean, right? Because we've seen the improvement since. But like you said, on the road, he has 10-plus rushing yards in those two rushing attempts in those two road losses. 15 times he ran it against Kentucky, 17 times he ran it against Ole Miss. And he had touchdowns in both of them, but he's having to run the football 15-plus times in those games because of exactly what you said, crowd noise, the offensive line, discombobulation, not being on the same page, and being a little sped up. And so what you've seen in all these other games, and I thought did a really good job against Mississippi State, because I don't think the offensive line had a great game against Mississippi State, but they did a better job, especially from the operational standpoint of not being, you know, there weren't false starts, you're not putting yourself behind the sticks, not making too many big mistakes. But Leavitt did a great job. I think, like, the Malik Elzey touchdown to me was a great example of it. He could have continued backpedaling or just tucked it and ran, but he knew the read was going to be open. He knew he had Malik on the end breaker and he was going to be there, So he just had to keep himself alive long enough to get it there. So he's backpedaling, backpedaling, backpedaling, rips it, touchdown on a play that maybe three weeks ago he tucks it and he tries to run with it and gets tackled for a loss, right? Instead, he's staying in it, staying in the offense, knowing it's going to be there because it was designed for it to be there, playing within the system. 81% completion percentage on Saturday, 289 yards, four touchdowns to zero picks, and didn't have to run the ball all that much because he hung in there and did what he had to do from the offensive system standpoint. And so it comes down to this Saturday when all of those other things are back and the crowd is loud and maybe your offensive line is out of it a little bit and there are all these things. Auburn's defense gets after you like they got after Georgia, right? does all those things, are you still going to be able to play within the system or do you fall back into bad habits and run the football 15 plus times? Or are you comfortable enough and has the offense grown enough that you don't see them fall into that? You see him get the ball to 13 and the rushing attack and the extension of the run game and all those things continue to develop. Of course, we'll have to pay attention to what the injuries look like and how much, you know, what it's like for Jackson Harris and where he's at and all of those things are going to, of course, play a factor. But I think this weekend is a really, really key opportunity. If Sam Levitt can play to the level that he's played through these last four, really, really grow off of last week against Mississippi State, there's no way you're not feeling extremely confident going into the bye of where you're at if he's able to continue this theme and actually do it on the road. Yeah, 100%. And I think part of the confidence as well is because you've seen him improve so much over these last couple of weeks, he's not to the top of where he could be yet. Like, there is still room for improvement. I think you mentioned it. There are some times where he actually gets to Dylan Jones a little bit too fast. Which, look, if you're getting to Dylan Jones too fast and you're just going to say, hey, guaranteed five yards, I'm going to take it, no issues with that. But there are times throughout the game where I think Winnie Watkins on the first or second play of the game was wide open on a wheel route down the sideline. He went to Dylan Jones instead. I'm fine with that. You went and got eight yards, but there's also the big play there that can be made. And I'd love to see him take that next step. And if he can continue to improve, he can get to a point where he gets his name back in the conversation for being in New York. Like his numbers are very good right now. And I think you can continue to see him make more progressions, get even more comfortable in the system work a little bit back of that running game into him having these great passing games as well and by the month of November like you could see him really ascend and this offense just take off and the offense is playing well right now they can get to another level in November if he continues to improve and continue to up the level and that's where my next question for y'all in the room, flashing back to after that Ole Miss game, the conversation was, do you think Leavitt can take LSU to the place where you want LSU to go? Like, do you think Leavitt can be the quarterback to get LSU to 10-2 or 9-3 and be in the playoff or right on the cusp of maybe getting the opportunity to get in? And I would say there's probably a lot of fans at that point, a lot of people that watch LSU football, that were saying no after game three, of not just didn't see it. And you could say it's unfair. It's a three-game sample size, all those things that we're saying. Man, I just saw him throw three picks, two of them in the red zone against Tech. Then they go on the road, and he looked flustered, and he missed reads, and he was all over the place. And it's hard to trust that. And I understand that because it was. I'll ask now. We've seen four more games happen since then. The numbers look drastically different and drastically improved. Do you, chat room, think Sam Levitt can be the guy or is the guy that can get LSU where they need to or want to be. I'll ask you a question for a question. Okay. Who else would you take to be the quarterback of LSU in the SEC outside of Trinidad-Chamberlain? That's a good question. Would you? I mean, yeah. I mean, I think Camario. I think before this past weekend, Gunner was probably in the mix, but I would say this past weekend changes that because of how he performed against Auburn. I would probably say the same thing with Keelan Russell. Yeah. He's a bad week this past week. I'm trying to think who else. I mean, that's probably – I mean, that's the thing. That's probably it. Those are the only four names that could even really be brought up in the mix. Trinidad, Camario, Keelan, and Gunner. And what that tells me is LSU's got a pretty good quarterback. Because there's only four other that can even be in the conversation, and you're maybe iffy on two of them, right, after this past weekend. And I would say I still believe in Gunner's stock. because I think this past weekend was an anomaly in the Gunner realm. I think they could vote. Sam Leavitt's probably capable of having that same game. Yes, yes. But the reason I brought it up is because even to, if you were a Mississippi State's quarterback, I would say I get it because of, like, long-term talent, but where you are in this season and Sam Leavitt's experience by going to a college football playoff, by having what this will be his third year as a starter, like, I think you're starting to see that experience kind of balloon and be the reason that you went to go get Sam Leavitt. And if you are putting yourself in the mix for a college football playoff, you have somebody that has the experience of how to get there. And now he finally has – Kenny Dillingham is a good coach. I think Lane Kiffin and his system are far more proven. And you're seeing – like you can look at Sam Leavitt's numbers since last year at Arizona State. It's through seven games. And look at the numbers that he has with Lane Kiffin versus what he had with Kenny Dillingham. Like they're markedly better. And the only thing that you could point to is the interceptions, and it was a three-interception game against Tech. Like, you get one pick against McNeese. Like, those, and the two turnovers you had, whether you like it or not, didn't matter against Kentucky. Like, they missed the field goal, missed the field goal, got the ball back. And so it's like, I know that you don't want to necessarily see those turnovers, but they also haven't necessarily mattered. And so whenever he's putting the ball in harm's way, it's probably because he feels like he can't, Because for Louisiana Tech, you have to lead. For McNeese, it's like, let's try something. It's okay for him to try to take shots in certain situations whenever the game is in hand. And so, from what I've seen with Sam Leavitt, I just truly believe he's not gotten the credit he deserves because numbers are numbers. But what you've seen from him, just like the progression of what he... Yes. And I don't think he got a fair shake from the beginning because everybody put all of, like, you're so tied to the result of the game, and who are you going to blame, the quarterback? Well, and on top of that, I would say another part that played into the fair shake was, and it was kind of what we talked about after the Clemson game, where it was like, you were expecting there to be growing pains in that game, and that game was such a euphoric experience against Clemson. There were none of those, and so that automatically flips that switch off in your mind where, oh, if there's no growing pains in game one, then we're good. Like Sam Leavitt doesn't need anything to develop because in game one he's good. But then you see it. No, that's game one. Where else can they go? Right. And so to your point exactly, the part that I've been the most impressed with is Sam, the mental part, right? Because has not wavered or backed down from the bad performance against Ole Miss. Every time he stepped up to the podium, answered the questions and said, I've got to be better. I've got to do these things better. I've got to improve in these ways. I have to put, mesh the rush and the pass together to be the best version of me so that we can be the best version of us. And to your point with the experience, you have seen him grow so much and kind of rapidly this season that plays into the fact that he's been there before and he's bought in. Like, that was the number one thing, I think, outside of the injury. You brought it up when we were talking about Leavitt before fall camp. It was like, who is LSU getting? We haven't heard from him, we haven't seen him, he wasn't participating in spring practice, there's the recruiting story where it goes wrong, there's all the money attached, and of course when there's money involved, people already look at it with a different kind of hesitation. All of those things play a factor of like, who is LSU's quarterback? Is he going to be bought in? Is he a leader, right? He's not a team captain, he's not getting invited to SEC media days, like who's LSU getting? And I would say through seven games, these numbers aside, there is not a single person that can look me in the eyes and tell me they don't believe those players want to dive behind number 10. Yeah, Sam Leavitt's not the leader. He is the heart of this team. And I know defensively when you get whipped back and all those things, but offensively, I just said it, 21 of your touchdowns through the first seven games, Sam Leavitt is responsible for. He might be the best player on your team. Like, he's definitely the most important. Yeah. And, like, not just from a football standpoint of, like, I mean, you know how much easier it is for Eugene Wilson to respond to getting chewed out the way he did by Sam Leavitt on that play when he knows that No. 10 was just busting his tail on the play before? Or he's getting rocked back there, and he's popping right back up. And he's dealing with all he's got to deal with, and he's still giving 100% every single day. Or he could just turn around and not say ----. There's a lot to what Leavitt is doing because I would be hard-pressed to find another team in the country that has put together more pieces in the transfer portal on offense that are all skill positions, that it's like brand-new players, go learn it. And that's what I think is a testament to what Lane can obviously do that because he has gotten his system down to a teachability point that they'll figure it out. But working on it and being able, from a quarterback, to not know anything about who, like, even Lane's figuring out who he has. Like, Malik Elzey started the first game of the year. Right. And then you don't see him again. Like, Lane is actively telling you whoever practices well is going to play. That's not normally the case whenever you have, like, you have your guys. Yeah. And so, like, he's still figuring out who works best where, and it's just because I've never coached any of these people. Yeah. All he's had is Winnie Watkins. And so you're seeing him, like, figure it out as well on the offensive side because I don't know how they're going to respond in the game. I don't know what they're going to look like on the road. I don't know who prepared well. And that's also one step down from that is Sam Leavitt going, who can I trust and what does he do in his break? All of those things only come to fruition in practice, which he didn't get to do, and in games. And now the games, yeah. And so you're seeing it kind of come together. The last real tick that you want to see is figure it out on the road because I do think a lot of it is why you want to, I guess, blame Sam Leavitt. But I think it's a lot of him. I think they need to simplify what they're doing offensively on the road because there's a lot of bullshit going on that he's having to tell, you know, come stand over here, get on the line, off the line. Like, they're trying to run the same offense in a smaller amount of time where people are clearly confused. And it's not – that's why he's running it more because people aren't in the right place. People aren't getting to the spot that they need to get to. And I think that if you can simplify that version of it, which might be Dylan Jones just standing outside. Yeah, right. Just be there for me. Yeah, I think that's, like, a check down that has never hurt. And so I think if they can kind of figure that version of the offense out where it's take this thing on the road, it doesn't, like, strip the parts down, it's like a travel kit. Yeah. Like, it doesn't have to be everything, but this will get you live. We'll make it happen. Yeah, and you can win this way. Yeah. No, and I think Saturday is going to be a huge opportunity for that. And I think if I was going to say there's one thing that I've learned a lot about Sam Leavitt up to this point is he wants to win. like he wants to win football games regardless of the noise and the mess, whatever, he wants to win. That's why he goes over to Eugene and says what he says about that play because if you get that right, it helps us become a better team and we'll win. That's why he's willing to get his legs knocked out from underneath him and do a front flip at Ole Miss and then pop back up and run QB power to the right because he wants to get in the end zone and he wants to win. There's a commitment to winning that when the coaching staff has it, Then you have a, your leader on the field has it. It's easier for everyone else to follow suit. And I'm excited to see what this weekend has in store. He is. No, I mean, like, he continues to win me over. Yeah, we should be, like, hyping him up. Rallying around him. Yeah, it's pretty incredible because I guess LSU. It's the interceptions. Like, truly and honestly, that is the number one reason why there's not that around him. Because, like you said, like, now, even that, like, I should be doing more of, like, thinking of him higher because he is going out there. You forget that he's doing front flips and getting right back up. And I think that's why. He doesn't stay on the ground and playing with the hamstring that he's clearly hampered with. And we're almost mad at him for playing. Instead of being like, look at him go out there and compete. He's hopping on one leg after throwing a touchdown. And we're like, he's playing well. He's a dog. We're like, why are you out there? Because I think the other side of that is he's so important to the team because when you see There's no dig at Landon Clark. He does get the same amount of reps, but when it's bad, it's awful. And you're like, you can't win a football game with this if he's going to go out there and throw it 35 times. Sam Leavitt, there's not a question. It's the Ole Miss, these two plays next to each other, which is the worst game he's had this season. It is this look at what Sam Leavitt can be, where he overthrows Trey Wilson in the back of the end zone, right off the fingertips, doesn't catch it. It would have been a touchdown. And now it's third down and whatever, and he does the roll out this way, roll all the way back around this way, bullet to Winnie Watkins' first down, gives you the opportunity to get in the end zone score touchdown. Same amount of experience. That's the part where, look, even when it's bad, because the inaccurate throw was bad, and some people would say all the pivoting and running around, not good football, he can make something out of nothing at times. And it's that part of him where if he can still have that and you don't need it as much, just in these little tiny opportunities, in addition to him being a part of the system and being in it, is huge. If that's your quarterback, you have to fully embrace whatever he's deciding to do because I can tell you what, he's not giving up on the play. And he's not bought in. But I think the reason for maybe the consternation around him is you can highlight those, like the misses that are so glaring, it feels like, oh, God, you can't win with this. You need to make that third. But then who else can make that play? The Winnie Watkins touch. Yeah. My goodness. So you have to be able to take some of the good with the bad because at the end of the day, I don't know if there's somebody else out there that can make the plays he's making, but it's also the reason that people are down on him or aren't fully bought in is because in the losses, you can go back and highlight Sam Leavitt. Specific plays. I think specifically against Ole Miss, which is the biggest game you've played to this point, the biggest from a national standpoint where everyone's watching LSU, was that game happened to be his worst game. And I think a lot of people have kind of formulated an opinion of Sam Levitt and aren't really going to change it unless they see a ton of weeks of improvement. And that's why I think he's not getting the credit that he deserves right now. And look, what was the conversation we had last week coming off of Kentucky, coming off the loss? LSU has no identity. They don't know who they are. They don't know what they can rely on. I think you are one, maybe two games away of Sam Leavitt playing really good football again from Sam Leavitt being your identity and the pass game being your identity. And that could not come at a better time. It could not be a better development for this LSU team and this LSU offense because truly he has carried your offense since Ole Miss. Like Texas A&M, you haven't really run the ball well at all. Like take Sam Leavitt, his running game, in, out, whatever. Dylan Jones has not had a ton of room to do a ton of work. Like, I don't think he has 100 yards since the Ole Miss game. Someone can check that. But Clemson and Ole Miss were the games where you ran the ball incredibly well. Since then, it has kind of tapered off. And you've needed Sam Levitt to go and carry your offense through the pass game. And that's exactly what he's done. So you're looking at if he has another great game this Saturday and you go into Jordan-Hare in an incredibly tough environment and beat an Auburn team coming off of the biggest win they've had in their program in maybe 10 years, I think that is when you start to point to, okay, that's our identity.