The Arizona State Sun Devils have been one of college football’s biggest surprises through the season’s first stage.
Kenny Dillingham’s second year as head coach has seen the Sun Devils get off to a 5-1 start, clinching their first five-plus-win season since 2019.
The Sun Devils were dealt a tough blow on Wednesday, though, as Dillingham said that starting quarterback Sam Leavitt would miss this week’s game against the Cincinnati Bearcats and possibly more games after that.
“It could be two weeks, it could be four weeks,” Dillingham said via ESPN.
Leavitt injured his ribs in Arizona State’s win over Utah last Friday but played the rest of the game. After the game, the quarterback said the injury started to act up as the game went on, and he ‘couldn’t really breathe.’
Jeff Sims will replace Leavitt. Sims previously started for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In his college career, Sims is 393-for-682 for 4,759 passing yards. He also has thrown for 31 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. Sims also brings more of a ground game to the table than Leavitt. Sims has rushed for 1,372 yards in his career and an additional 12 touchdowns on the ground.
While Leavitt’s injury is unfortunate, Dillingham thinks the Sun Devils are in good hands with Sims.
“We brought him in to compete to start. Sam’s a really good player, Sam beat him out but it was close, Jeff had a good camp. And now Jeff, who has started a crap ton of games, gets to go start again. To me, there’s not much drama,” the 34-year-old head coach noted.
[ESPN]
