How Sam Leavitt became the No. 1 transfer portal QB -- and why his recruitment got complicated

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The recruitment of the No. 1 player in the transfer portal may have, in some ways, been the most confounding.

Sam Leavitt was arguably the most obvious portal entry of the cycle. His likely entry was common knowledge in college football circles for most of November as he recovered from a foot injury that kept him out of the last month of the 2025 season.

Unlike most players, however, Leavitt never actually announced he planned to leave.

He just showed up in the portal on Jan. 2. I was sitting in a conference room with CBS Sports analyst Cooper Petagna that day, and Petagna, after a call with an NFL area scout, made the call -- Leavitt would be the top-ranked player in the portal.

It made sense from a talent standpoint. Leavitt entered the 2025 season with first-round NFL Draft hype. When healthy, he played like it, throwing for 1,628 yards and 10 touchdowns to go along with 306 yards rushing. He's mobile. He's a creative playmaker. He's 16-4 as a starter.

But he proved to be a divisive prospect for schools.

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Leavitt's complicated recruitment process

The behind-the-scenes reviews of Leavitt from the Arizona State staff were mixed, and teams had concerns about Leavitt's health coming off his Lisfranc injury, especially given the expected investment in bringing him to campus -- a number that would eventually balloon to $4-million-plus.

Arizona State ended up signing Kentucky QB Cutter Boley instead at a steep discount -- in the $1.5 million to $2.5 million range compared to Leavitt.

Meanwhile, other quarterbacks were ahead of Leavitt on teams' boards.

Brendan Sorsby was the top option for Texas Tech, LSU and Miami. Josh Hoover and Indiana found a reasonably quick behind-the-scenes fit ahead of the cycle's official opening. Oregon liked Drew Mestemaker and Dylan Raiola.

Leavitt was a second or third option for most, to the point that Kentucky made a very strong push for Leavitt at the height of Sorsby's recruitment.

Eventually, the quarterback dominoes began to fall, and teams circled back to Leavitt. Texas Tech used Leavitt as leverage with Sorsby, scheduling a visit with him when Sorsby tripped to LSU. But Sorsby quickly committed to the Red Raiders, which left LSU and Miami in need of a quarterback.

Leavitt emerged as LSU's top target after Sorsby came off the board, with a brief Demond Williams Jr.-sized caveat.

The news of Williams' intention to transfer broke while Leavitt was sitting courtside with Lane Kiffin at an LSU basketball game. CBS sources quickly tagged LSU as an early favorite for Williams, along with Miami.

That caused some tension between Leavitt and LSU, per sources familiar with the matter. Leavitt departed campus without committing, choosing to visit Tennessee, which entered the quarterback fray late with the status of Joey Aguilar's 2026 eligibility up in the air.

Leavitt went to Knoxville while Williams' transfer hopes fell apart.

Williams couldn't get out of his contract with Washington, and sources at the time indicated he had regrets about the decision to transfer within 24 hours of his post. It didn't help Williams' case that the Big Ten aggressively acted behind the scenes to protect its NIL contracts, threatening action against teams that may have tampered with Williams and pushed him into the portal after he re-signed his deal with Washington.

That meant another pivot for LSU.

Lane Kiffin and the Tigers brass flew to Knoxville and met with Leavitt, attempting to re-engage after the Williams news took the relationship off course.

Leavitt would go on to visit Miami. But ultimately, the Tigers were able to land Leavitt as their QB1, the first big splash of a historic No. 1 overall QB class for the Tigers in Year 1 under Kiffin.

Messy? A little. But that's the world of big-time portal quarterback recruiting.