‘Hard feelings’ with Jonathan Smith led to Sam Leavitt transfer

Freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt decided to enter the transfer portal on Monday and he attributed it to ‘hard feelings’ with the new coach.

Well, the transfer portal surge is hitting Michigan State football this week. The Spartans’ new head coach met with the team on Monday and shortly after, a number of players decided to hit the portal.

Guys like Katin Houser, Darius Snow, Kevin Wigenton, Ethan Boyd, and Spencer Brown all announced intentions to enter the portal on Dec. 4 and they weren’t alone. Promising freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt joined that group.

With the quarterback room wide open, it was surprising to see him go, but he explained why on Monday to David Harns.

According to an interview Leavitt did with Harns of Spartans Illustrated, the freshman quarterback doesn’t sound like someone who is open to removing his name from the transfer portal.

“I’m a home town kid and [Jonathan Smith] didn’t offer me,” Leavitt told Spartans Illustrated. “There are some hard feelings there.”

Leavitt did meet with Coach Smith today and brought up what happened in the past.

“I felt slighted by that,” said Leavitt. “Why would they like me now when they didn’t like me before?”

When asked if there was any chance that he might return to Michigan State, he replied, “Yeah, I’m kinda just done.”

Those are the kind of quotes that you hear from someone who didn’t get the answers he wanted. Leavitt was probably skeptical when Smith was hired because of the fact that he didn’t recruit him and wanted to clear the air in person. When the two spoke, something didn’t go right and they just didn’t see eye-to-eye on this situation.

Could it be because Smith stood his ground and stuck by his decision to recruit Aidan Chiles over Leavitt? That would be my guess, but it’s interesting that Smith wouldn’t even try to talk him into staying.

This is a big blow to the quarterback room which doesn’t seem as intriguing on Monday night as it did when Smith was hired. People were talking about a potential competition between Leavitt, Katin Houser, and Chiles. Now, the former two have transferred and Chiles still hasn’t announced his intentions to leave Oregon State yet.

That means the quarterback room could be completely new in 2024.

Hopefully Smith can bring his guy (Chiles) to East Lansing because the once-thought “future of the program” Leavitt is moving on. And it seems bridges have been burned.