Sam Leavitt ruled out for Saturday’s showdown in Salt Lake City

Sun Devil nation went into a frenzy Thursday night, at 9 p.m. CST the Big 12 rolled out its second Week 7 injury report and despite a dozen Arizona State players listed out for the programs upcoming contest with Utah, the college football world was shocked to see sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt listed as doubtful, despite being listed as probable on Wednesday’s injury report that released 24 hours prior.​

Friday morning, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham went on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, and Leavitt’s availability was the primary topic of discussion. “If he plays in the game, it’ll be a miny miracle, I’ll be absolutely shocked,” Dillingham said Friday. “We’ll know this afternoon what it is and how he feels. It’s accurate reporting, and Sam’s been battling something going back to Baylor; he’s been fighting, and he fought through the TCU game. Sam does everything he possibly can to play football games here; he’s the ultimate competitor.”

Devils Digest learned on Friday afternoon that ASU has ruled Leavitt out for the Utah contest, as senior Jeff Sims will get the nod on Saturday night.​

Despite battling with the undisclosed injury during the Sun Devils versus then-No.24 TCU, that didn’t impact the signal caller’s game. He generated 353 yards of total offense and three touchdowns in a 27-24 win.​

ASU then had some time off thanks to a Week 6 bye, despite having the time to rest; however, Leavitt couldn’t shake the issue, despite being a full participant in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday during the week, running with the first team.​

“He’s done everything he can do to get back,” Dillingham said. “Bye-week was good for him to get kind of back, then this week it just didn’t feel as good as we wanted to, leaving Wednesday’s practice.”​

​In 2024, the Sun Devils defeated No.16 Utah 27-19 at Mountain America Stadium. In that game, Leavitt threw for 154 yards but missed the subsequent matchup against Cincinnati, due to suffering bruised ribs in that Utah contest, and ASU fell short on the road.

In 2025, ASU defeated a ranked TCU program at home, but Leavitt is unlikely to play in the subsequent game against Utah. ​

In Leavitt’s absence last season, Sims took over and completed 12-of-23 passes and generated 208 total yards of offense. Dilliingham is confident in his backup signal caller’s preparation for the matchup.

​“He makes explosive plays,” Dillingham noted on Sims’ strengths. “My first game at Florida State (as an offensive coordinator in 2020), I lost to Jeff Sims in his first game in college football. The game plan is not changing. We have a lot of confidence in Jeff. He could’ve gone a lot of places after this season and been a starting quarterback.”​

Regardless of the quarterback, ASU aims to improve its red zone efficiency, which is currently 12th in the Big 12, with a scoring rate of 86.4% on red zone entries. The offense has scored just 11 touchdowns on 22 trips into the red zone, at a 50% rate. ASU comes in at second-worst in the conference based on percentage.​

When asked Friday morning, Dillingham gave an answer any ASU student can appreciate.​

“I asked Chat GPT how to fix it,” Dillingham laughed. “In all seriousness, we just watched the clip, so we went back to the drawing board. We said, ‘Okay, what is our team this year? What can we do as a staff to help our guys be more productive here? So we have a plan for short yardage and goal line to be a little bit more creative.”​

On the defensive side of the ball, the Sun Devils have dominated up front with 19 sacks through five games; their 3.8 sacks per game ratio is fourth in the country. However, the offensive line of the Utes is perhaps as good as they’ll face all year. ​

Utah’s offensive line is spearheaded by junior offensive tackle Spencer Fano, who is the No.1 offensive line prospect in the nation according to The Athletic and a likely top-5 pick in the 2026 NFL draft. The Utes’ other offensive tackle, redshirt sophomore Caleb Lomu, is also projected as a first-rounder next year.​

“They don’t play third-and-long very much,” Dillingham said. “If we can find a way to get them behind the stick, we can either force them to run the ball on third and long or we can get them in situations that they haven’t played football in very much.”​

During his Monday press conference, Dillingham praised Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, the third-longest tenured coach in college football, for establishing a culture of toughness in the program that’s led to a career winning percentage of 66.3%.​

“He’s developed a system to win football games that will win in high school, college, the NFL,” Dillingahm said. “He’s dedicated to stopping the run, running the football, and playing the football to play the game as a team, not as an individual side of the ball.​

“It’s an unselfish program, and when you’re like that, you win more than you lose; that’s the goal for us.”The weather in Salt Lake City could be a factor during Saturday night’s showdown, thunderstorms and heavy rains are potentially on the forecast, with storms being projected to start after 6 p.m. local time.​

“Any night game across the count,y the environment is tougher,” Dillingham said. It’s a great environment in general; it’s even better at night. It’s a really good challenge for us to go out there and play our best football.”