Seeing starting quarterback Sam Leavitt return to practice after dealing with a rib injury, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham was pleased with what he saw to a point where he is going to play against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“He looked good, had a really good day. He’s going to be the guy, he’s done everything we asked him to this week and he’s looked really good,” Dillingham said following Wednesday’s practice.
Dillingham talked about Leavitt’s status on Monday about the chances of him playing were 60-70%, and the Sun Devils wanted to watch how he responded through practice before making a decision.
From what he and the Arizona State coaching staff have seen, he has passed the tests enough to receive the green light to take on the Cowboys this weekend.
“I just saw him be able to make throws and run around, he is pretty much full speed. There is a reason that I and our staff were super precautionary with him. I wanted to make sure when he was back, like people couldn’t say, ‘Oh, he’s still recovering from something or we’re going to be able to expose (blank).’ No, I want him to feel really, really comfortable when he took the field and like I said, his butt would have wanted to play the last two weeks because he’s competitive, he didn’t care,” Dillingham said. “Just take a breath, let’s get you healthy, let’s get you as healthy as we can get you and let’s go play a game at 100% or as close as 100% as you can be this time of the year.”
Leavitt was out for the loss to Cincinnati 24-14 on Oct. 19 after sustaining the injury the week before in the 27-19 victory over Utah back on Oct. 11. Before then, he started in the first six games of the season, completing 90-of-152 passes and throwing for 1,166 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions while also rushing 55 times for four touchdowns and 279 yards.
With Arizona State coming off of a loss last time out and a bye week, Leavitt will look to lead his team back into winning ways against an Oklahoma State program that is still searching to win its first game in the Big 12 this season. On a five-game losing streak, the Cowboys are 3-5 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Jeff Sims started against Cincinnati and completed 12-of-23 passes for 155 yards while Cam Skattebo rushed 17 times for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
The Sun Devils are on the verge of securing bowl eligibility if they win one more game this season, sitting right now at 5-2 and 2-2 in the Big 12. Oklahoma State was nationally ranked last season when the Cowboys beat ASU 27-15 on Sept. 9, 2023.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
