ATLANTA (KPTV) – Former West Linn and Westview High School standout quarterback Sam Leavitt will be front and center as No. 4 Arizona State takes on No. 5 Arizona State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz on Wednesday morning Texas competes in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Stadium in Atlanta.

“It’s the biggest stretch in college football until you win the next one, and we’re all here for a goal,” Leavitt told members of the media this week.

The Sun Devils are among the Cenedellas in this year’s reformatted football playoff round after being predicted to finish last in the Big 12 Conference before securing the final spot after an 11-2 season. “We lived with being in last place,” Leavitt said. “In every single game we are the underdogs, that’s something we’ve lived with and that’s helped us play better.”

Like most fairy tales, it took some time for the 6-foot-tall dual-threat signal-caller to find his footing at the next level.

His father, Jared, said the moment came about a year ago when Leavitt transferred from Michigan State to Arizona State after his freshman season. “When we visited ASU, (Marcus) Arroyo later said he didn’t let us out of the room,” Jared Leavitt said. “So you can 100 percent feel the desire and the belief that they had in Sam.”

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The trust shown by Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo paid off in spades this season, as the redshirt freshman scored 24 touchdowns and rushed for five more touchdowns en route to winning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Season honors Annual Award. “That’s what got him to this point, that he’s wired to always want to be the best,” Dillingham said. “All the time and he has the confidence to always want to be the best.”

“On the run, off script, looking for a first down, that’s classic Sam Leavitt, he did that a few times here. West Linn football coach Jon Eagle was named the 2022 Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year and says he saw a mentally strong star just beginning to shine during that 6A championship run.

“I’ve never had a quarterback who maybe came back like things weren’t going well when things weren’t going well,” Eagle said. “Quarterbacks get cautious when things aren’t going well, and Sam never had that. Always confident and very competitive.”

The Lions’ two-time state championship coach added that the former prep star will have plenty of support back home, even with the University of Oregon in the playoff field. “I picked out my snacks and my spot on the couch and can’t wait to watch them,” Eagle said.

While Leavitt is considered a leading candidate for next year’s Heisman Trophy race, the Oregonian is currently focused on a strong run with ASU in this year’s postseason. “We put ourselves in this situation, we have three games left, so why not us?,” Leavitt said.

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