A former Michigan State quarterback was just crowned the No. 1 transfer in the 2026 cycle, making him the most coveted player in the portal on paper.
Sam Leavitt was just ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 transfer in the final 247Sports portal rankings, just ahead of Texas Tech quarterback (and Cincinnati transfer) Brendan Sorsby.
Leavitt transferred from Michigan State to Arizona State after his freshman year with Michigan State where he experienced some serious program turmoil when Mel Tucker was fired a couple of games into the 2023 season. He was replaced by Harlon Barnett and Leavitt was given a few opportunities to prove himself, but it wasn’t extensive enough to truly make an impact.
When Jonathan Smith was hired, he decided to transfer out and rumor was that he was never recruited by Oregon State out of high school so he held a bit of a grudge.
After 1.5 (less than that actually) successful seasons with Arizona State, Leavitt entered the portal again, much to everyone’s surprise, and decided on Lane Kiffin and LSU. He’s one of three new LSU Tigers in the top 10 of the final transfer portal rankings.
I’m not going to sit here and dwell on what could have been, but it would have been interesting to see what the program might have looked like if he had stayed instead of Aidan Chiles coming in.
Sam Leavitt isn’t the only top-15 Michigan State transfer
Leavitt may have finished as the No. 1 overall transfer in the portal, but he wasn’t the only former Spartan to get some love from 247Sports.
Nick Marsh was also ranked highly in the portal, wrapping up as the No. 15 transfer in this cycle and he was also the fifth-best receiver. He ended up at Indiana this offseason after spending his first two seasons in East Lansing playing for Smith after committing to Tucker. Losing him hurt more than losing Leavitt because Marsh was the WR1 in East Lansing while Leavitt was a backup true freshman quarterback.
Still, seeing these rankings have to make you wonder what the program may have looked like if Leavitt nor Marsh transferred out. Would they have seen success under Smith or was that staff doomed from the get-go? I’m going to go out on a limb and say Smith was doomed regardless.
Marsh would have been great to keep under Pat Fitzgerald, but a fresh start was necessary for both sides. Leavitt had no chance of staying.
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