Sam Leavitt Gives LSU Something to Build on After Breakthrough at Texas A&M

LSU fans were fed up with Sam Leavitt just over a week ago after completing 16 of his 27 passes against Ole Miss for just 158 yards. It was so bad that many fans hopped onto social media and asked for backup quarterback Landen Clark to start.

But like any good football team, LSU's staff didn't listen to the noise. It backed Leavitt, who admittedly had struggled, and gave him the chance that he never really deserved to lose. And with his chance, he balled out.

Now, the discourse around Leavitt has completely shifted.

After throwing for 312 yards and two touchdowns on 17 passes, Leavitt has the support of a few short-tempered Tiger fans, but he still needs to build on his game against Texas A&M if LSU wants long-term success.

Slinging the Rock

For Leavitt, his struggles have come in being a passer. It's always been hig biggest knock since arriving on the scene at Arizona State two seasons ago.

He's incredibly athletic and a gifted runner, but his game in the air is just not as strong.

Leavitt is gutsy - his game against Texas A&M showed that - but at times his passes fall flat deeper down the field, and his accuracy can't put the ball in the window his eyes found.

All of those worries in the air come from the pocket.

When Leavitt is on the move, off rhythm and keeping plays alive, he's elite. But in the pocket, he's antsy, anxious and jumpy. He uses his legs as his first read and not as a back up option.

But if he's not at full health, like he wasn't against Texas A&M, he can't escape the pocket as frequently. He'll only further damage his injury. So he sits in the pocket, follows each read and makes gutsy throws into tight windows.

On Saturday, he was accurate and unable to leave the pocket. That created a quarterback who diced the defense, put balls where only his players could get them and made a lot of people wonder if Leavitt found it.

Out of Leavitt's 116 passing attempts this season, only 23 have been targeted over 15+ yards down the field. That's only 19% of his passes.

On Saturday, Leavitt took a significant step up in taking shots, a clear sign of confidence and pocket presence in a quarterback.

34% of Leavitt's 23 passing attempts over 15+ air yards this season came against the Aggies on Saturday, and half of his 12 completions on those 23 passes came against the Aggies.

Those numbers are clear indications that the LSU offensive staff, head coach Lane Kiffin and Leavitt saw increased pass accuracy and pocket presence, creating more confidence in the ability to take shots downfield.

Sustaining the Development

Kiffin said that in today's world, with social media and how fast mistakes spread in the online college football world, players see their mistakes immediately. And he says they internalize those mistakes and think they've missed so many open plays.

"But then I break it down to them so they see, 'OK, hey, wait, that seems easy. Just throw the ball to the open guys for the touchdown,'" Kiffin said. "But when you get impacted early in the game by rush, that (Ole Miss) did a really good job... and you can't step up, and you're getting beat inside, and a guy's open, but you can't step up and throw in rhythm, it affects you.'

That's what got Levaitt in trouble at Ole Miss, an issue that is exacerbated by his shortened timer to leave the pocket. When he can't leave the pocket and he hangs in there, he goes through all of his reads and makes good throws.

For Leavitt, now it's going to be about lengthening his timer on leaving the pocket, finishing his reads and sustaining accuracy. That facet of the game comes down to confidence. Leavitt has that now.

"Confidence is fragile at every position, but especially at quarterback," Kiffin said. "And when you have success - a lot of the places he was having success was taking off on his own and doing things. So it's hard to stay in there when that's how the game was going. But he knows he's got to do a better job of that, even in those situations, and deliver the ball on time and not try too much."

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/lsu as Sam Leavitt Gives LSU Something to Build on After Breakthrough at Texas A&M.