Kiffin’s Tune CHANGES?! 😳 LSU QBs & O-Line SURGING + Leavitt Leading From Sidelines!

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This is the exclusive table with the view. This is your name on the list. This is three times points on Dining with Chase Sapphire reserve and a $300 dining credit chase Sapphire Reserve now even more rewarding. Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval so just how much have the LSU quarterbacks improved? Lane Kiffin dives in. We'll discuss Locked on lsu. Here we go. You are Locked on lsu, your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers, part of the Locked On Podcast Network your team every day. Okay, let's get it. It is locked on LSU, your team every day. I'm your host, Matt Moscona. LSU had its 13th workout of spring on Tuesday. Was there. Gave you the full practice report. Afterwards we spoke to Lane Kiffin and one of the main talking points of this media session was the improvement this team has made from practice one to practice 13, with two workouts still to go and most notably at quarterback. Keeping in mind, LSU has tremendous expectations in 2026 and and so much of that expectation falls on the shoulders of Sam Levitt, who isn't even participating. We know the drill. Levitt had his list frank surgery. He participated in very limited fashion at the start of spring. A week ago Monday he had the pins removed from his foot. Has not participated at all. Not throwing, not running, not doing anything for the remainder of spring. So what's realistic here? Well, what that's meant is Husson, Longstreet and Landon Clark have gotten all of the reps with the ones and the twos, Emil Picarella running with the threes. And there have been times throughout spring where it has looked very bad. If you're at every day or you followed our reports, one of the things that I've suggested here is if LSU is going to reach its very lofty goals, the goals that are associated with hiring a coach, paying him $91 million, building the type of roster with the financial Commitment you did north of 4, $40 million that is get to and make a deep run in the College Football Playoff. Well, that is going to fall on the shoulders of Sam Levitt because us on Longstreet and Landon Clark have not looked throughout spring like they're capable of that yet. Not to say they never will. But as of right now, and yes, it's spring of the first year of Lane Kiffin and I might suggest that at this point a year ago, even Trinidad Chambliss wouldn't have looked like this. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even with Ole Miss in spring. Last year he wasn't reading arrive on Ole Miss's campus until June. But one of the things that Lane Kiffin did say when talking about his quarterbacks is that yes, from the beginning of spring to now there has been improvement with those quarterbacks.

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Quarterbacks really had a good week improvement and then again today with the lack of turnovers interception wise. So you know, two Saturdays ago was not very good as we know. And so you know the whole goal is to come up here to show them, to teach them and for improvement in it. And those guys played a lot better Saturday and they practiced better today and that Thursday. So that that's been really good because it was concerning. You know, like I said, if we would have had to play at that point we would have to be a defensive team and protect the football and try to win on defense. But again we're not playing last week so that that progression is really good. Probably looking at things, you know, it's probably was the way it would go as far as offense being behind, you know, with the receiver and quarterback out. But also that being the new system being in place where defense had been here.

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So I want to remind you Lane said there the improvement in particular in the turnover interception rat. Remember two Saturdays ago the quarterbacks combined for five interceptions and a lost fumble. It was six turnovers. And even still in the quick six period we see if you followed our spring practice reports that quick six period at the start of practice, even just on Tuesday of this week, the first two plays were interceptions. D.J. pickett and Ty Benfield both came up with interceptions on back to back plays. It was really bad. Still the the turnovers on Tuesday's practice out where we had media availability, there was not a single interception. Not in the one on one DB receiver drills, not in the seven on sevens, not in the 11 on 11 period. There was a fumble snap but there was not a single interception. So the quarterbacks Your backups have gotten better at protecting the football, which is certainly a win. But it still stands to reason that if this team is going to reach its lofty goals, then Sam Levitt is going to have to be what all of us think he is capable of being. The quarterback that made him the number one quarterback in the transfer portal, the quarterback that led Arizona State to the College Football Playoff two seasons ago. And he's not working, obviously, but he's out there in a helmet, in a jersey, in sneakers, standing by the quarterbacks, trying to get every bit of morsel of information and evidence that he can, and information that he can. And Lane Kiffin acknowledged that on Tuesday.

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Yeah, Sam's really smart, really good approach to the game. He fits really well with us that way. And. And so he's really elite thinking and processing, so it would be great when he's fully cleared to be back out there. But he does a really good job. That's not easy. You know, it's hard to mentally lock in when you're not practicing. You know, you see when we hold tie and periods, how great he does over there coaching other players and locked in. Sam's gotta do that the whole day long. And he does a really good job of that because it's more than just you guys see, it's meetings, it's walkthroughs in the morning. So really pleased with him that he's doing everything that he can.

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Must be hard to stay that locked in when you can't do anything. But I think there's a fair question with Levitt, and again, we haven't seen Sam Levitt play with this offense yet of what is the ceiling and what is the floor. And if you just want to look at Sam Levitt's career, remember he started his career in the 23 season. That was Jaden Daniels Heisman year. He was a freshman that year at Michigan State. He only attempted 23 passes. He transfers to Arizona State and in 2024 goes for 2,800 yards. Actually just under 2900 yards, 24 touchdowns, six interceptions. Also ran for 443 yards. Comes back a year ago, and at the time that he was injured, he had thrown for 1,600 yards, 10 touchdowns, three interceptions and ran for 300 yards. So just for context, he had about 110 fewer. 111 fewer passing attempts than in 2024, so about a third less of the passing attempts. So honestly, if you were just averaging it out, if Levitt had played and attempted a third more the same Amount of passing attempts in 2024, he actually would have thrown for about 400 yards less. He was pacing to throw for about 400 yards less than he did in in that playoff season in 2024. When you look at Lane Kiffin's quarterbacks at Ole Miss, you know what is the ceiling and what is the floor? You know Lane's first year at Ole Miss was the COVID year when he had Matt Corral. Remember they only played 10 games during the COVID year. Matt Corral threw for 3,300 yards and 29 touchdowns in the COVID year. He went from 3,300 as in the COVID year to 3,300 in 2021. The low water mark was Jackson Dart's first season at Old Miss. It was the only season at Ole Miss that a Lane Kiffin quarterback did not throw for at least 3000 yards. And Jackson Dart came 26 yards shy. He threw for 2974. So that was the low watermark was 2974. In 2023 Dart threw for 3300 yards and then Dart went for 4200 yards. And then this year Trinidad Chambliss who didn't even start the season as the quarterback threw for 39:37. So he was just 70 yards shy of 4,000. Chambliss was with with lesser, with with less opportunity. So all that to say the low watermark of Elaine Kiffin quarterback at ole miss was 2900 yards. Levitt in his playoff season at Arizona state through for 2885. So Sam Levitt you would hope when healthy in this offense would elevate his game as a fourth year player in this offense to exceed what was the low watermark of the Kiffin era at Ole Miss. Keeping in mind that was Jackson Dart his first year transferring in to that offense. Quite honestly, if Sam Levitters for 2900 yards this season at LSU, it's going to be a disappointing year. Remember that Arizona State team had Cam Scatterboot and he was a fantastic threat and weapon for that Arizona State team. And I understand that Lane Kiffin's offense in many instances is predicated on the run. Kewan Lacey was an all American this past year running for 1500 yards in a year where Champ was also through for just under 4,000 yards. They complement one another. So yes, the backup quarterbacks are improving as spring goes along. Which goes to show you how comfort and it can can develop in this offense with repetition. It's just that Sam Levitt is going to be behind when he finally gets that opportunity when fall camp starts in July or early August, as they'll have about a month to ramp up before LSU hosts Clemson. Week 3 circlet when LSU is at Ole Miss, he'll have Clemson allow Louisiana Tech Boom. Then you got to be ready to go to Oxford to see what that ceiling looks like and what potentially the floor looks like for Sam Levitt in Lane Kiffin's offense. Well, a lot of that will also be predicated on the guys blocking for him. One of the things Lane Kiffin talked about along with the improvement of the offensive line is how they view how they're using the offensive line in spring. We'll dive into that as we continue here. It's locked in lsu. Your team every day. Workplace chaos. Deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is sitting open when the pressure's on and you need the Right hire. This is a job for Sponsored Jobs. Indeed. Sponsored Jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's the stat that says it all. In the minutes since we've been talking, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. That's according to Indeed Data Worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed Sponsor Jobs. And listeners of Locked On. 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Get right back to the show, but I want to remind you you can get Locked on LSU ad free with the Everydayer Club plus Members Only Discord access you can the link in the show notes so we've talked plenty about quarterbacks and rightfully so this offense will go as Sam Levitt goes whenever he's healthy. But a big part of that naturally is going to be the offensive line. Earlier in spring, Lane Kiffin did say the offensive line has been the most improved position group since he and this staff arrived on campus. Well, one of the things that I asked Lane Kiffin on Tuesday was about their thought process in rotating so many offensive linemen. Now we have pretty much seen three players solidified in their starting roles. Braylon Moore is your starting center. Aluba is your starting right guard. Jordan Seaton is your starting left tackle. That's not changing as long as those guys are healthy and eligible. Those three are locked in. The other two spots however, are up for grabs. That would be left guard and right tackle. And we have seen quite a bit of rotation. Of course it was Devin Harper, the Ole Miss transfer who started spring with the first team at left guard. And then we've now seen fifth year senior Bordelon move into that role. Bordelon's play guard, tackle, tackle eligible with a tight end number. He's done a lot during his career at lsu. And Devin Harper initially moved to the second team playing guard. Well, over the weekend we saw Devin Harper kick out and play second team right tackle. Well, on Tuesday Harper kicked back into right guard and Darren Stray, the Kentucky transfer moved back to right tackle. So we have seen quite a bit of shuffling. William Satterwhite from Tennessee had been the number two starting center. The number two center. Well, he was not there on Saturday for the scrimmage. He was not there on on Tuesday for practice. In his absence, Ryan Morett, the freshman who was a one time old Ms. Commit who flipped to LSU when Lane Kiffin took the job. Ryan Morett has been taking the second team reps at center with the second team offense. So we have seen a lot of shuffling on the offensive line. And so I asked Lane Kiffin why.

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Yeah, just trying to find the best players. And I think when you're coming new like we are to the program, but especially on this side of the ball, I think that's important to look at guys at different spots, not only for like what is their best spot, but then when you get jammed up in some seasons, you know, one of the big things in college football is luck. Within the season of injuries and out of your control and you'll have some really good years. Last year we had an elite year of health and low injuries and almost the same starters almost every week. And then you're gonna have some years where it's not gonna work like that and like the year before. So the more you can move them around and see what they do, even it's not their best thing. So that when those injuries happen, we don't now all of a sudden try to figure it out. So that's why we do a lot of that.

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I think that is so important to know. And because I think we. We are all. I'm guilty of this as well. We're all guilty of this. We want the answers now. I get asked all the time, hey, Matt, if LSU had to play a game today, who would be the starting offensive line? And I'll answer the question because my job is to give you opinions. I'm not the one who's going to set the lineup. I'm just the guy that talks and gives you opinions. I'll try to give you informed opinions. And I get the opportunity to go watch practice and tell you what I see. And based on what I see, try to give you an educated guess on these things. But they may not know the answers right now. Now, I know those three I mentioned, Seaton Moore, BA Those are three starters. I don't know who the other two are going to be. I could take best guess and basically want to see. Right now, it's probably going to be Davis at right tackle and borderline at left guard for the first snap against Clemson. Probably. Maybe not. We'll see what happens between now and September 5th, you know, seven months from now. But I also think it's important the last part of what Lane Kiffin said there. Sometimes there's luck involved and that's injury luck. Sometimes guys stay healthy and sometimes they don't. I'll remind you, Tyree Adams got injured against Vanderbilt. That was your starting left tackle a year ago. Well, what happened? Well, you know, D.J. chester had to kick out and play left tackle. A guy that was primarily a center during his time at LSU ends up playing left tackle during a road game in the sec. You know, Braylon Moore against Louisiana Tech was injured on the second play of the game. Well, what do you do in that situation if your starting center goes down two plays in, who plays center? Well, DJ Chester goes in, you rotate and shuffle your entire thing. Remember the Ole Miss? The Ole Miss game? Weston Davis was concussed in pregame when he got headbutted by Jack Pyburn. And so he ends up missing the entire old miss game 15 minutes before kickoff. We find out Carious Kern, who hadn't played much right tackle, was going to start at right Tackle on the road in the sec. Well, that's the benefit of cross training. And remember, in fall camp, you may not remember this if you're an everyday, or you might, but in fall camp, about two weeks before the Clemson opener last year, Carious Kern, who had been working as the second team left tackle, was starting to rotate with Weston Davis with the first team at right tackle. That was, that was two weeks before the Clemson game. In fall camp, for similar reasons to what Lane Kiffin just described, you can't control injuries and you don't know what's going to happen, but you want to make sure you have options and options that are as comfortable as possible in those spots. Remember last year during spring, you, you went and you went in the portal and signed Braylon Moore last year from Virginia Tech. Undeniably, he was going to be your starting center. Not even a question. The year prior, the weak link on your offensive line was D.J. chester at center, first time starter. He was playing out of position. He was your starting center. So what did you do? You went in the Portal. You got the best center in the portal in Braylon Moore. Well, LSU goes into spring last year and Braylon Moore was a January enrollee, so he's going through spring. Last year, who took all of the first team reps at center? D.J. chester. Even though you went and got Braylon Moore out of the Portal, like spring is a time where you can test and taste and try and rotate because you don't have to have the answers today. It's what Lane Kiffin said. In that answer, we said, you know, if we had to play a game today, we'd be a defensive team. Well, you're going to be a very different team by the time September rolls around in October and November. I mean, last year in September, Trinidad Chambliss was a backup From a Division 2 school in Ferris State. And then he ends up throwing for nearly 4,000 yards and becomes a folk hero in Ole Miss football history. So a lot is going to change and it's hard to think of that now, but it's why I love what I see with the offensive line, with all of the rotation. You know, Darren Stray is a really interesting guy. This is a guy who, you know, was a left side of the line guy at Kentucky under Eric Wolford. Well, Wolford comes to lsu, he brings Darren Stray with him. Now Darren Stray has worked at both right guard and right tackle. So now you have a swing lineman who can play either side of the line inside or out. That's like in the NFL where you have to have valuable players that can play guard, tackle both sides of the line because you're only going to have so many available on game day. So you can't go if you have an injury, go into free agency or the waiver wire. You have what you have on your roster. Like LSU can't go replace Gabriel Rford and and the any injuries that that they may have at this point. Aiden Anding, who just had his Achilles injury, you can't go in the portal and add another corner. Who you have is what you have. So you better have guys ready to play a lot of different spots. It's very obviously what they're doing on the offensive line now. Receiver is a little bit of a different situation because they got a lot of guys there and a lot of guys that are talented with different skill sets, but they're trying to identify the few that are going to be the most efficient and one is very clearly emerging. Lane Kiffin will talk about him next. It's locked on lsu, your team every day. The NBA playoffs are here, where every possession matters, every matchup is magnified and every game can swing a series. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers a great way to get in on the action. And here's what I like about it. 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LSU had to completely remake its receiver room, something we've talked about quite a bit here. LSU returns one reception from a scholarship receiver from a year ago, Philip Wright. That's it. Philip Wright had one cat. He looks great, by the way. So far in the spring we had one reception. That's the only reception from a scholarship wide receiver that LSU returns this year. So a giant question that's worth asking is after you go into the portal and you add all of these receivers and maybe of the. As Lane Kiffin said, the 10 that you add, you're looking for four to six that might emerge and become key contributors for you. There's one guy so far in spring that appears to have such a great level of comfort in this offense that you can't help but notice him flash every single practice. And it's Winnie Watkins. And that shouldn't come as a great surprise because Winnie Watkins transferred to LSU from Ole Miss. So he knows the coaches, he knows the terminology, he knows the system. He knows everything there is to know about this system at this point. And so I asked Lane Kiffin if that observation was correct, that it appears as though Watkins sort of has a leg up because of his familiarity and the value of that.

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Obviously, when players come from systems no different than NFL when they, you know, sign him in free agency from the last place they were coaching out a lot of times, usually defensive or offensively, when a coordinator moves or becomes a head coach, that really helps. Now hopefully the other guys, they'll progress a little bit slower and catch up to that because obviously when he has a head start. But it is really good. It's really good to. You know, part of bringing TJ here was not just the player that he is, you know, it was that he knew my expectations in the locker room, how things are done, especially on the other side of the ball. And so to have that. So when players are asking, you know, like, okay, how can we do this? He can say, hey, you got to trust the process. This is how it works. You're going to eventually figure out it out. Just may not make sense now. So when he's younger, but he gives you some of that in the receiver room. But that went in a lot to decisions take, much like they do, you see in the NFL when somebody gets a job and they. They bring the middle linebacker, you know, when they become a head coach and sign them in for agency because they understand what you're trying to get done.

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You've heard me say if you're an everyday or you've heard me say several times that I think Lane Kiffin is very thoughtful. And again, not not to say like he's considerate of the feelings of others, just that he is very thought. He thinks a lot about his answers and what he says and what he's trying to convey. I think that was a great illustration of of, of that thesis and how much thought went into the many different things that build this roster. You know he was. Lane was asked to question specifically about receivers and if it's important to have some guys that are tall and some guys that are small and some guys that are fast and some guys that have good hands and possession. And I'm paraphrasing but Lane's answer was no. He just wants good players. And then you mold your offense to fit around the good players you have. And that does make a lot of sense. Like you know you look this year Deuce Wallace was the leading receiver at Ole Miss and you know he was 611 95. Well you can go through the years and like even just look at you know, Desean Stribling who's 6 to 200 pounds, big body wide receiver who was there this past year. Deuce Alexander was smaller at 6 foot 175. Those were your top three receivers if you want to go to the fourth. Kaden Lee, 511, 175 A really small body. So I don't think it necessarily matters the size of the receiver Lane showing you like he'll find the guy that is talented and they'll fit within like Trey Harris was going to be the Bletnikov award winner in 2024 had he stayed healthy unfortunately after and he transferred from Louisiana Tech. Trey Harris wasn't a guy with tremendous speed but he's six three, 210 pounds and he had great ability to separate caught everything and he was a great receiver. So I, I get one. Lane Kiffin is saying there with respect to all of that. But maybe the most important thing all in is when he was asked about the biggest areas improvement on the team and he didn't talk about a position group.

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I think in general just the understanding of our expectations, how to practice, how to work, how to prepare. That's come a long ways and I'm really pleased with that in general of the players. You know, you never in my opinion never know this time. Okay, do we have enough elite players to like you know, make a really deep run. But I do know this. We have really good culture kids. Kids that chose to come here have really bought in. The ones that stayed have really bought into the changes. So that's been really good because that's not always easy. So that part's been really good.

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$40 million on this roster. You better have the elite players to win. It's the other part of it. Can you get the culture, can you get the buy in, can you get some luck with health and can you coach him up to be able to navigate a nine game SEC schedule, that gauntlet, get into the playoff and hopefully make a deep run through through it? Well, it's going to take a lot. It's going to take quarterbacks, it's going to take certainly better offensive line play than you had a year ago, a remade receiver room and a defense that returns a bunch and added some really key pieces as well. But that whole maturation, development and evolution of this 2026 LSU team is 13 practices in and it's undeniable. You've seen a lot of progress but still a long way to go and we'll be here every step of the way. So be sure you subscribe on podcast and YouTube. It's locked on LSU, your team every day. Now is your time to get into a new Dr. Horton home by taking advantage of its national Red Tag Sales event going on right now through Sunday, May 3rd. Stop by any of its participating communities and find select red tag homes at incredible pricing. So whether you're buying your first home or looking for an upgrade, you don't want to miss the Red Tag Sales event going on right now. Discover the Dr. Horton Difference Visit Dr. Horton.com Dr. Horton America's Builder and Equal Housing Opportunity Builder this is the table, the one with the view. This is how you reserve exclusive tables with Chase Sapphire Reserve. This is your name on the list. This is the chef sending you something he didn't put on the menu. This is 3 times points on dining with Chase Sapphire reserve and a $300 dining credit that covered the citrus pavlova and drinks and the thing you didn't think you liked until you tasted it. Chase Sapphire Reserve now even more rewarding. Learn more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan, Chase bank and a member FDIC, subject to credit approval. When you invest with Fidelity Go, it does all the work for you. So while Fidelity Go monitors the markets, rebalances your portfolio and tracks your progress to keep your investments aligned with your goal, you can invest your time however you want, all while paying no advisory fees. Under 25k. Invest your money, not your time, with Fidelity GO. Get started@fidelity.com go Advisory services offered by Strategic Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Brokerage services provided by Fidelity Brokerage Services, llc, Member NYSE and SIPC.

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