Sam Leavitt injury update: Kenny Dillingham makes starting QB decision vs. Oklahoma State

Arizona State is turning back to Sam Leavitt at quarterback this week vs. Oklahoma State, head coach Kenny Dillingham announced on Wednesday. Leavitt was injured on Oct. 11 in a win against Utah.

While he was injured, Leavitt only missed one game, a 24-14 loss to Cincinnati, before the Sun Devils were off last week. In his stead, Arizona State started backup quarterback Jeff Sims.

“He’s going to be the guy,” Dillingham said. “He looked really good today.”

Arizona State and Oklahoma State kick off at 7 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 2, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

With an apparent injury to his right side and throwing arm after a hard hit in the 2nd quarter.

After staying down through a commercial break, Leavitt was up and walking off under his own power. He appeared to be in a significant amount of pain and discomfort. And after the fact, Leavitt explained he was able to handle the pain, but was upset he couldn’t continue.

“I got hit in the ribs, started to spasm, and couldn’t really breathe,” Leavitt said .”But I was just fired up, so I was just really sad. I wasn’t really too worried about the pain, I was just sad I couldn’t put on for the team. So once I got the strength to get up, I told our team y’all please better go put this in one in. So I went to the tent, did whatever I had to do, got back out there and just did what I can to get a win with the team.”

Leavitt won the starting quarterback job over Simms heading into the season after joining the team through the transfer portal earlier this year. Appearing in four games during his true freshman season last year at Michigan State where he threw for 139 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Already notching career highs in his redshirt freshman year with 1,166 yards through the air and 12 total touchdowns this season with the Sun Devils.

Simms also joined Arizona State this offseason through the portal and will be making his 26th career start this Saturday. Throwing for 4,746 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions while rushing for 1,355 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground between his time at Georgia Tech and Nebraska.