When Lane Kiffin took over the LSU program, finding a quarterback was right at the top of his to-do list. He finally did it this week, landing a commitment from Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt, and on Wednesday, he did it again.
Leavitt is Kiffin’s present, and Husan Longstreet is now his future. The former five-star transferred from USC after spending 2025 redshirting behind Jayden Maiava, and now he’ll arrive in Baton Rouge with four years of eligibility remaining. It’s a surprising move that further edges out quarterback-needy programs like Miami and Tennessee that were forced to pivot to Longstreet following Leavitt’s commitment.
Husan Longstreet gives LSU the QB future Brian Kelly couldn’t secure
5-star quarterbacks don’t wait long to get on the field nowadays, and many expected that with Maiava returning for another season as Lincoln Riley’s starting quarterback in LA, Longstreet was hitting the portal in search of a starting job. Though most transfer QBs have already found their match, there were plenty of opportunities still available for a player of his talent.
Instead, Longstreet is coming to LSU to sit behind Leavitt, who has two seasons of eligibility left. Leavitt was a two-year starter for the Sun Devils after beginning his career at Michigan State. While he’ll only be a junior in 2026, there is an expectation that he’ll be off to the NFL after one year leading the Tigers, at which point Kiffin can hand the reins to the No. 4 QB in the 2025 class.
Brian Kelly, aside from hitting a dead end with his tenure, was heading into QB no man’s land. Michael Van Buren was on the roster behind Garrett Nussmeier, but LSU had struck out in the high school QB market, most notably losing the No. 1 QB in the 2025 class, Bryce Underwood, to Michigan.
Now, in just a few short weeks, Kiffin not only has his replacement for Nussmeier in Leavitt, but his succession plan in Longstreet. The 6-foot, 200-pound Californian impressed in limited action last season, completing 13 of his 15 throws for 103 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 76 yards on 11 carries. Most of that action came against Montana State and Georgia Southern, but Riley did have gadget packages for Longstreet that he features against Illinois and Notre Dame, to varied success.
He’s unproven, but oozing with talent, the perfect developmental project for Kiffin, who has a track record with USC transfers. At Ole Miss, he helped turn Jaxson Dart, who began his career at USC under Clay Helton and interim head coach Donte Williams, into a 2025 first-round NFL Draft pick. Longstreet will be hoping for a similar trajectory in the SEC.
Lane Kiffin just took major recruiting pressure off himself
The addition of Longstreet also takes the pressure off Kiffin, the self-proclaimed “Portal King,” from having to go blow-for-blow with other SEC powerhouses for the top QB in the 2027 class, Elijah Haven, a Baton Rouge native.
247Sports currently predicts Haven to commit to Alabama, but a lot can change in the 6-foot-5, 215-pound high school junior’s outlook as he approaches his senior high school season. Maybe he does ultimately choose to stay home, but if he doesn’t, Kiffin has Longstreet in place to ease the pain.