Sam Leavitt's Loyalty to Arizona State Sun Devils

They say there are two sides to a coin. Looks like college football is one such coin.

They say there are two sides to every coin. It appears that college football is much like a coin, with good sides and bad sides to every story.

Do you recall what Nick Saban's wife, Terry Saban, had to say about NIL? She stated, "All they care about is how much you're going to pay them; they don't care about how you're going to develop them, which is all what we've always done; so why are we doing this?"

Undeniably, there are players who fit into that category. For instance, Carson Beck and Nico Iamaleava took the NIL path. Nevertheless, there have been players for whom loyalty was non-negotiable.

Well, Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt falls into that list. He chose loyalty over those hefty checks. Now, does that mean he's completely oblivious to what's happening in college football? Of course not. After all, Leavitt wasn't shy about addressing his team's missed opportunity to reach the CFP.

"I firmly believe, you know, he could win the Heisman trophy. I really believe that." This is what Kenny Dillingham had to say with complete confidence about Leavitt leading the show. And can you blame Dillingham for pinning such high hopes on his quarterback?

We're talking about 2885 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 216 of 350 passes completed—numbers that speak volumes of toughness. Now, this isn't to say that Leavitt takes anything for granted. He's got his own mood board set up, y'know, a whiteboard attached to his fridge, with a question to keep him pushing harder: "How great do you want to be?"

Turns out that to chase greatness, Leavitt didn't have to chase other teams or bigger checks. Back on May 27, CFB Alerts shared an IG post with a quote from the quarterback.

"Why would you not want to be in a situation where you know exactly what's going on."

Leavitt further stressed how he wants to strengthen his footing in Arizona State, which would give him a firmer stand to take the long leap to the NFL. So, chasing after a few thousand dollars is something he doesn'نامهی wants to sacrifice something bigger that is in store for him in the NFL.

"Who cares if you get paid a couple hundred thousand dollars less when you're gonna have a shot to now go play in the NFL and make 10 times more money."

Dillingham's quarterback sits with an NIL valuation of $3 million. Now this is less as compared to Leavitt's mates who swapped wagons.

Beck's one switch from Georgia to Miami earned him a $4 million NIL offer. Even the ones who chose to stay loyal rank higher in the NIL charts. For instance, Texas Longhorns star Arch Manning holds an NIL value of approximately $6.6 million.

So, in both ways, Leavitt had good enough reasons to consider jumping off Dillingham's train. But he's choosing to ride it till the final destination in his college journey. After all, he can already foresee something grand awaiting him at the end.

In about a month since the 2025 draft, Leavitt has been mocked in the first round 14 times and ranked as a first-round pick on three big boards. He's as high as No. 5 (Cleveland Browns) on one mock and as low as No. 30 (Detroit Lions) on another. Out of the most frequent appearances in Leavitt's probable next home, the Los Angeles Rams appeared six times, and the Pittsburgh Steelers appeared four times.

However, as of now, Leavitt will have to let go of the burden of the 2024 snub and gift a happy ending to the Sun Devils.

Red zone regrets still haunt Sam Leavitt

The 2024 season saw Dillingham's defense finish third in the Big 12 in points per game, allowing an average of 22.6. They also restricted Iowa State, which averaged over 31 points per game, to just 19 in the conference championship showdown. But there have been some big oopsie moments, too. The biggest that still haunts Leavitt and his program in their sleep is the heartbreaking 31-29 loss to Steve Sarkisian's boys. On The Matt Barrie Show, the host triggered his fresh regret.

What's your perspective on: Is Sam Leavitt's loyalty to Arizona State a smart move, or is he missing out on NIL riches? Have an interesting take?

Turns out that Leavitt is still not over the pain. "You know the whole time I was like, 'We just need one play to pop like we need a big play or we really didn't even need