Demond Williams’s story could impact LSU, Leavitt

By Hunt Palmer

The college football world was rocked on Tuesday when Demond Williams announced he was entering the portal.

And LSU is likely to get involved.

Williams’s announcement comes at a time when literally thousands of players are declaring a portal entry. What makes his different is that four days ago the announcement was made that Williams had struck a deal with Washington to return as the Huskies’ starting quarterback.

Now he wants out.

Multiple reports suggest Washington and the Big 10 will pursue legal action to keep Williams in Seattle. The conference went through this when cornerback Xavier Lucas transferred to Miami from Wisconsin after agreeing to terms on a revenue sharing deal with the Badgers. The case is still pending while Miami motions to dismiss. Meanwhile, Lucas has played in 13 games for the Hurricanes who play in the CFP Semifinals on Thursday night.

HOW DOES LSU FIT IN?

Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis have pursued Williams for years on the recruiting trail.

Williams, a four-star prospect as a prep quarterback in the Class of 2024, committed to Ole Miss on December 30, 2022. In July of the following year, he decommitted. Three weeks later he committed to Arizona, his home state school which was coached by Jedd Fisch. After Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama, Fisch got the job at Washington, and Williams followed. But not without another pursuit from Kiffin, Weis and Ole Miss.

This relationship goes back over four years, and LSU is obviously very much in the market for a quarterback.

LSU’S SITIUATION

It’s no real secret that Kiffin thinks highly of Trinidad Chambliss. He’s not coming to Baton Rouge. Brendan Sorsby visited. His girlfriend and $5 million lured him to Texas Tech. As of Tuesday night, Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt was on LSU’s campus at the basketball game with Kiffin and linebacker Whit Weeks.

Leavitt was on campus for the better part of two days.

The questions surrounding his Lisfranc injury and subsequent surgery are significant. The suggested rehabilitation period can be 8-10 months. On the longer side of things, that would sideline Leavitt into August.

It’s a serious injury that is slow to heal. Cam Newton suffered a Lisfranc injury in 2019 and never really returned to the dynamic force he once was. Now, Newton was nine years older than Leavitt and dealing with shoulder issues as well. But the parallels are there.

This study from the National Library of Medicine from 2014-17 studied 60 Lisfranc injuries and tracked return to performance. The conclusion was that college athletes largely returned to play and maintained athletic performance.

Still, injuries always bring risk, and missed practice time is significant in a new system with a new team.

Leavitt was scheduled to visit Miami following his LSU trip. The Hurricanes are in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. That would actually be a 30 minute drive from Arizona State’s campus. Instead, though, Leavitt is making a trip to Knoxville which wasn’t previous on the radar. That could indicate he’s very much still looking at options beyond LSU.

Even if LSU were to sign Leavitt, more quarterbacks would have to be on the radar because LSU is literally without one on the roster currently. It’s unlikely Williams and Leavitt would end up at the same place. That makes almost no sense from a playing time perspective, and it would take a massive financial commitment from LSU at one position with needs all over the roster.