2026 LSU Football Position Preview: Quarterbacks

Wherever Lane Kiffin goes, offense follows. Be it Tuscaloosa, Boca Raton, or Oxford, the Kiffin Offense has been one of the best units in college football, and last season might have been his masterpiece.

Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. gave the keys to little-known Trinidad Chambliss and that got Ole Miss to the precipice of the national championship. While the triggerman of Ole Miss' offense remained in Oxford, the braintrust now resides in Baton Rouge, and the tandem of Kiffin and Weis Jr. paid a pretty penny to get what many believed was the best quarterback on the market.

Today, we preview the outlook for LSU football's quarterback room in 2026.

*At USC

**At Arizona State

***At Elon

There are about four million reasons why Sam Leavitt is going to be LSU's starting quarterback this season, and whatever hopes the Tigers have of playing meaningful football into January hinges on Leavitt's shoulders and surgically repaired right foot.

After leading Arizona State to a Big 12 championship and a near-upset win over Texas in the 2024 CFP Quarterfinals, Leavitt's stock came crashing back down to Earth in 2025. Leavitt missed six games with a broken foot and it was that injury which gave the LSU coaching staff pause in their recruitment.

LSU's pursuit of Leavitt was messy to say the least: Leavitt famously visited Baton Rouge in January, left without committing, and caused Lane Kiffin to hop on a plane to Knoxville and re-recruit him Say Anything style.

Clearly, whatever Kiffin sold Leavitt on stuck because Leavitt is the no-doubt QB1 of this football team. What type of QB1 he'll be remains to be seen, though Leavitt says his foot is 100 percent. If Leavitt is the 2024 version of himself, then LSU ought to be squarely in the mix for not just the SEC, but the College Football Playoff. If he's not and/or still slowed by his foot, Kiffin has shown he's not afraid to go to his backup quarterback to find a spark.

Which brings us to Husan Longstreet, who would most likely be the first quarterback off the bench if anything were to happen to Leavitt. After all the handwringing from the Bryce Underwood recruitment, LSU ended up getting a quarterback from the 2025 class into the program anyway. Longstreet was a five-star prospect coming out of Centennial High School in Corona, California, and saw action in games against Missouri State, Georgia Southern, Illinois, and Notre Dame. A redshirt freshman heading into 2026, Longstreet has four years of eligibility in front him and could, in theory, be the Tigers' signal caller for the rest of the decade.

The first quarterback added by Kiffin and staff is likely the third quarterback on the depth chart. FCS transfer Landen Clark was the Colonial's Co-Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, and now makes the jump from Elon University to the SEC. Could Clark be LSU's version of Trinidad Chambliss? Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. clearly saw something they liked in Clark.

This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: 2026 LSU Football Position Preview: Quarterbacks