Miami Hurricanes miss out on star transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt
The Miami Hurricanes once again saw one of their top transfer portal quarterback targets commit elsewhere.
Sam Leavitt, who starred at Arizona State the past two seasons and led the Sun Devils to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2024 before injuries hampered him this year, has committed to the LSU Tigers, according to multiple reports Monday.
Leavitt’s decisions came two days after visiting the Hurricanes on Saturday. Leavitt had also taken visits to Texas Tech (which landed the other top portal quarterback in Brendon Sorsby, who UM aggressively pursued), Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee.
In 2024, Leavitt threw for 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns and six interceptions, while completing 61.7% of his passes and rushing for 443 yards and five touchdowns.
This past season, Leavitt was limited to seven games because of injury and threw for 1,628 yards and 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions, along with 300 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Leavitt threw 23 passes in his first college season at Michigan State before transferring to ASU before the 2024 season. Over three seasons, he has thrown 36 TDs and 11 interceptions and completed 61.4% of his passes, while averaging 4.2 yards on 196 rushing attempts (with 10 TDs on the ground).
UM has made a splash in the quarterback transfer market after landing Cam Ward in 2024 and Carson Beck this year.
Ward in 2024 set the Hurricanes’ single-season school records for completions (305), passing yards (4,313), passing touchdowns (39) and completion percentage (67.2%) on his way to becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He led Miami to a 10-2 record, but UM just missed the College Football Playoff that season despite having the country’s top-ranked offense due to a defense that struggled down the stretch of the season.
Beck enters the national championship game on Jan. 19 between the No. 10 Hurricanes and No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers having completed 73.3% of his passes (which would shatter the record set by Ward last season) for 3,581 yards (currently third in a season in UM history behind Ward and Bernie Kosar’s 3,642 yards in 1984) and 29 touchdown passes (tied with Steve Walsh for second most in a UM season behind Ward) with 11 interceptions.
But the quarterback market this cycle has already thinned out considerably. In addition to Leavitt and Sorsby, other top quarterback transfers that have committed or signed elsewhere include Drew Mestemaker (from North Texas to Oklahoma State), DJ Lagway (from Florida trending toward Baylor), Dylan Raiola (from Nebraska to Oregon), Deuce Knight (from Auburn to Ole Miss), Byrum Brown (from USF to Auburn) and Rocco Becht (from Iowa State to Penn State).
According to 247Sports, the top-rated transfer quarterback who has not committed is Husan Longstreet, a former five-star prospect from USC who played in four games last season. The top-rated former starter is former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula.
There’s also a chance UM tried to convince Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson to return to college after declaring for the NFL draft. Simpson is not currently in the transfer portal.
Players have until Friday to enter their names in the transfer portal.
The Canes have four scholarship quarterbacks who have eligibility remaining after the playoffs: Emory Williams, Luke Nickel, Judd Anderson and incoming freshman Dereon Coleman.
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