LSU QB Sam Leavitt, initially 'doubtful' for high-profile matchup vs. Ole Miss, taken off injury report entirely

· Yahoo Sports

Looks like LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt will be available this weekend after all. Ahead of Saturday’s highly-anticipated matchup against Ole Miss, Leavitt is off the Tigers’ injury report, erasing a few days of uncertainty about whether he would be available to play against the Rebels.

In a surprise move, Leavitt was listed as “doubtful” on Wednesday, raising the possibility that No. 7 LSU would be taking on No. 8 Ole Miss without their starting QB. However, by Thursday, Leavitt had been ungraded to questionable, with the quarterback reportedly participating in the team’s walkthrough.

The report did not specify what injury was keeping Leavitt out; teams aren’t required to list a reason or types of injury on SEC injury reports.

Leavitt, a redshirt junior transfer from Arizona State, has racked up 574 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns across the first two games of the season.

Though multiple reports indicated that Leavitt had been limited in practice earlier this week, many were quickly skeptical of the injury designation. LSU head coach Lane Kiffin, known for these kinds of mind games, has high stakes entering the game: It will mark Kiffin’s first return to Oxford since he left Ole Miss in December to take the Tigers job.

If the move was a gambit, it didn’t seem to trick the Ole Miss coaching staff. In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Rebels coach Pete Golding relayed his initial response to a message from Kiffin about Leavitt being “doubtful.”

"I got the text before the report went out from Lane, 'Hey, our quarterback's out,'" Golding said. "I'm like, 'yeah buddy, I bet he is.' I've been around here a lot of Wednesdays with you, man, for 3 1/2 years, and I said I think our first one we had 42 guys on the first-ever SEC injury report on a Wednesday."

Any injury report shenanigans on Kiffin’s part could result in him getting in trouble if they turned out to be inaccurate, with SEC rules stating that report releases “intended to hide a student-athlete's true participation status for competitive or strategic reasons” aren’t allowed. Violation of that rule can result in a fine or punishment for the head coach.

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