Sam Leavitt quickly turning Lane Kiffin's head at LSU fall camp, and he's not the only one

Head coach Lane Kiffin spoke to the media after LSU’s first day of fall camp as the Tigers are just one month away from LSU’s game against Clemson on Sept. 5.

There are plenty of storylines on both offense and defense, especially with the debut of Sam Leavitt and LSU’s talented freshman trio in the defenesive interior of Richard Anderson, Lamar Brown and Deuce Geralds.

Kiffin gave his observations and throughts of LSU’s first fall practice, and he liked what he saw so far. 

Here are three interesting things Kiffin said.

Sam Leavitt’s return has Lane Kiffin feeling encouraged

After a lengthy rehab from a season-ending foot injury in 2025 that caused him to miss spring camp as well, the media got a first glimpse of Leavitt.

Leavitt has a lot of pressure to perform given that many saw him as the No. 1 quarterback in the portal after a successful two-year stint at Arizona State.  While with the Sun Devils, he passed for more than 4,500 yards with 34 touchdowns and nine interceptions while adding 749 rushing yards and 10 scores.

"Sam - I thought Sam had a great day today - really looked the best he's looked and that was exciting to see. He looks like he's getting more comfortable with the receivers.

"He looked really good. Sam has been moving around really well and if you just went out today and saw him, I don't think that you'd think there was an injury. I think he's all the way back from that. Now it's just getting up with the timing of everything.

"I thought Sam had a great day today. And really, I don't look at it that he was really far behind because he did a lot of mental work, did a lot of throwing stuff in different situations. Even when he couldn't move as well.

"So I think his progression has been really good, and I think he's right on pace."

Lamar Brown’s ceiling has Lane Kiffin fired up

Brown, the No. 1 defensive lineman in the country, has already made an impression on Kiffin. If you can recall, Kiffin's first day in his new office in Baton Rouge was trying to make sure Brown stayed committed to LSU.

This was Brown's first practice with LSU as he enrolled in the summer in comparison to some of his other freshmen teammates, and Kiffin is glad he is wearing the Purple and Gold,

"Lamar is great. Height, weight, speed combination and very rare to find. He's an awesome kid, really intelligent, really well-spoken, really has really good thoughts when you meet with him about being great and what it takes.

"For him to kind of be the first guy I met when I was here. He was on my couch, basically, in the office the first night. So that's kind of a cool story for it to happen to be such a great kid and recruit potential players.

"We're really excited about him, his ability to do multiple things. Again, that will take a little time. He just got here. I think everybody expects all these freshmen to just have these elite freshmen years, and that's not really what's happening a lot around the country because rosters don't have as many holes because they're filled by portal players."

Lane Kiffin on the new OTAs-style camp: “Long-term mind thinking”

Kiffin said LSU’s first practice felt different because of the many OTA-like days, and as a result, the Tigers are using shorter practices to prevent injuries and build durability as the season ramps up. Despite this, Kiffin like the energy his team had throughout the day.

"It is a little bit different maybe than the first day in the past because there have been so many kind of OTA type of days and things where you have your team. So many guys were brand new today. 

"We're following kind of a ramp up program to prevent injuries, one that we kind of started last year. Just looking at being fresh at the end of season and injuries in the first five days. So this is a shorter practice than our traditional ones used to be. 

"There's not much work done out there but that's really long-term mind thinking. Guys were out there, really good spirits, really good energy."

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