Sam Leavitt’s foot injury led to fan and reporter ‘ghost-chasing.’ Kenny Dillingham loves it

The attention on Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt’s lower leg injury over the past week has gotten a little absurd.

Message board warriors were attempting to diagnose the quarterback’s undisclosed injury using AI.

Reporters with access to practice — but under restrictions on what they made public — were posting pictures of his foot, with tape or without it.

Missing last week’s loss to Utah with a walking boot on the sideline, Leavitt was taped up as he returned to practice for prep against No. 7 Texas Tech this week. On Thursday, after he’d already been listed as “probable” to play, Leavitt was wearing a leg sleeve and seemingly no tape. It was notable to some reporters at practice.

ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham finds it amusing.

He also understands the rabid interest is part of football-loving culture.

“I mean, well, there was tape. I think it was under his sock,” Dillingham said when he joined Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Friday morning. “That’s the best part about college football, is the ghost-chasing begins. That’s athletics, baby.

“You gotta love, ‘There’s no photos of the feet. There’s photos of the feet.’ The games that get played are so funny to me.”

By the way, Dillingham is optimistic Leavitt will play, whether he wears tape or not.

A week after the team downgraded the quarterback from probable to doubtful to eventually out, Arizona State’s head coach said he was optimistic about Leavitt being ready to roll a day out from a 1 p.m. MST kickoff against the Red Raiders.

“He looks good. I’m excited. I feel really good,” Dillingham said. “The opposite of the last week — I feel good about him playing this week. He’s a competitor. If he had his druthers, he probably would’ve gone last week, but that just wasn’t something we were willing to do.”

Leavitt’s presence will be massively important against a team that Dillingham said has four to six defensive linemen who could be NFL players a year from now.

Leavitt missed the 42-10 loss at Utah, and it stung deeper because he was coming off what Dillingham said was his best game as a college quarterback.

Against TCU on Sept. 26 before a bye week, the quarterback threw for 291 yards, going 27 of 29 (67%) with two touchdowns while adding 13 carries for 62 yards on the ground.

“I think the last football game was his best football game he played,” Dillingham said. “He controlled early downs, taking checkdowns, had a high completion percentage. Got the ball out of his hands early on early downs in that last TCU game. That’s where I’ve watched his progression.

“Now here’s another game where it’s going to be the same mantra. You can’t take early-down sacks, you can’t play early-down superstar.”

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