TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State head football coach Kenny Dillingham had some great news for Sun Devil fans at his weekly press conference on Monday at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
"Sam should be back," Dillingham said.
The second-year head coach was talking about Sam Leavitt, ASU's starting quarterback who missed ASU's loss to Cincinnati two weeks ago after injuring his ribs during the Sun Devils' upset victory over then-No. 16 Utah on Oct. 11.
However, Dillingham said that just because Leavitt has been cleared, that doesn't mean he'll play on Saturday, when the Sun Devils head to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
"It's still I'd say 60/40, you know, 70/30 that he'll play this week. But it's one of those, we gotta see him practice and stuff like that... But he's been cleared to play. He wants to play. He's excited about playing. He's been putting in a lot of work to play. So, we'll see how that transpires."
Dillingham added that Leavitt has actually been cleared for three weeks, but they held him out of the game against Cincinnati out of caution.
"This was a we're protecting Sam and his competitiveness from Sam and his competitiveness because if it was Sam's choice, he would have gone right back in the game the next play and then he would have played the next week right after that."
Leavitt has been a key player in ASU's 5-2 start to the 2024 season, which has put them just one win away from bowl eligibility.
In six games this year, Leavitt has completed 59% of his passes for 1,166 yards and eight touchdowns and he has only thrown four interceptions.
If the Sun Devils decide that Leavitt is not ready to go on Saturday against Oklahoma State, then they will turn to backup Jeff Sims, who started in place of Leavitt against Cincinnati.
In that game, Sims completed 12 of his 23 passes for 155 yards but wasn't able to find the endzone. He also ran the ball 14 times for 53 yards.
Dillingham said that he has full confidence in Sims if he is the guy against the Cowboys and that they are prepared either way.
"There's a few things that we added (to the playbook) with Jeff," Dillingham said. "There's really nothing that we took out for him... We've been rolling with Sam for a while, so it's really just back at it, status quo if he's the guy this week, which I hope and anticipate that he is."
ASU's game against Oklahoma State is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
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