The Sam Leavitt saga heads south from Knoxville

The Tennessee Vols got an up close and personal look at Arizona State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt this week, who ranks as the top quarterback in the portal. Leavitt arrived in Knoxville on Wednesday, and he ended up stretching it to a two-day meeting with Josh Heupel and his staff. Surely a good sign, right?

Well, the Leavitt national tour did not end in Knoxville with a pledge to the Vols after all. Leavitt, who had already visited Kentucky and LSU, is now on to Coral Gables for a visit with the national-championship-game-bound Miami Hurricanes.

The happenings this week with Leavitt have been enough to make your head spin. He was with LSU on a visit when the news broke that Demond Williams was transferring from Washington and was being linked early to LSU by a number of internet sleuths. After the Huskies reportedly flexed their muscles about enforcing a possible revenue-share contract violation, Williams ultimately stayed in Seattle.

And as it would be, Lane Kiffin posted pictures of himself in Knoxville on Friday on Twitter (X).

That fueled speculation that he was there to try to woo Leavitt to sign with LSU while he was in Knoxville on a visit. However, Kiffin also secured the pledge of OL William Satterwhite on Friday, so it’s tough to truly know for sure what was the primary purpose of his trip and what all went on.

And that’s a big issue with all of this, knowing what’s real and what isn’t. It feels like some of these portal things, especially this one with Leavitt, changes by the hour. And that could be for multiple reasons. Agents push things for obvious self-serving reasons. Not saying that’s what’s happening here, but don’t tell me it doesn’t happen sometimes. And, hey, sometimes players don’t know what they want to do. Simple as that.

At this point, it’s not a great sign that Leavitt left town without committing. He has all the leverage and has a number of suitors, so perhaps leaving isn’t the death knell to him possibly coming to UT. However, going to Miami next, who has a ton of NIL resources and has shown a willingness to invest highly at the QB position, isn’t the best sign. And the Canes have seen their last two QBs from the portal shatter school records and be the #1 pick overall in the NFL Draft (Cam Ward) and end up in the national championship game (Carson Beck). Oregon is also rumored to be in the mix for Leavitt, should Dante Moore bolt for the NFL, and their pockets are deep.

The Vols also are looking at additional options themselves, with Missouri QB Ben Pribula also scheduling a visit to Knoxville.

We’ll see what happens in the coming days, but for those who were hoping to land the former Sun Devil, him leaving town without having committed doesn’t feel great.