TEMPE — Sam Leavitt’s right foot injury appears to have recovered well enough for coach Kenny Dillingham to feel optimistic the quarterback has a shot to play Saturday against Big 12 frontrunner Texas Tech.
“There’s still two more days, but I feel really good about Sam and where he’s at,” the coach said Wednesday after Leavitt had gone through a few days of practice.
Leavitt took all of the first-team reps during Tuesday’s practice and was back Wednesday with more mobility on display than the week before.
If Leavitt doesn’t play, Jeff Sims would be lined up to make his second straight start. Sims was 18-of-38 for 124 passing yards with 52 rushing yards on 21 carries at Utah, a 42-10 loss last weekend.
On the other side, Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton was considered day-to-day as of Monday, coach Joey McGuire told reporters.
Morton’s backup, redshirt freshman Will Hammond, has 57 pass attempts across six games.
Hammond’s best performance came at Utah when Morton exited with two separate injuries. He threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns (81.3% completion rate) with 61 rushing yards on eight carries.
Sam Leavitt injury timeline
Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta before Leavitt was ruled out for the Utah game he had been “battling through” the injury since the Baylor game on Sept. 20.
He played one of his best games as a college quarterback the next week against TCU, and he got the following week worth of reps off during the bye. While he practiced the Tuesday and Wednesday before the Utah game, it was largely stationary work.
Leavitt was listed as probable that Wednesday night in the first Big 12 availability report of the week, but he was downgraded to doubtful on Thursday night. He was ruled out the following afternoon.
He traveled with the team to Salt Lake City, wearing a boot over his right foot.
Kyson Brown’s injury now long term, other Arizona State updates
Running back Kyson Brown will be out “for the foreseeable future, probably all the way through the (Nov. 8) bye,” Dillingham said.
Brown has had 11 touches since returning from an ankle injury he initially suffered in the first half at Mississippi State in Week 2. He did not play at Utah, after which Dillingham revealed he had tweaked the ankle and the team didn’t want to risk further injury in the rain.
With Kanye Udoh also not practicing due to illness, freshman Demarius “Man Man” Robinson took many of the first-team running back reps on Wednesday.
“I have 100% trust in Man Man,” Dillingham said. “That dude just cares. … You guys see it, work level’s high. I can sleep at night knowing Man Man’s gonna play.”
ASU was also managing the health of center Wade Helton in the first week of practices without Ben Coleman on the line, so Makua Pule got most of the first-team reps on Wednesday.
Pule has mainly gotten on the field as a fullback in jumbo packages, with 19 such snaps last year and one this season against Baylor. He has 17 career in-game snaps at center, with most coming at the end of the Big 12 title game.
“Whenever he jumps in, there’s not a whole lot of stuff in him like, ‘Hey, I don’t even recognize what’s going on,’” offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said of Pule’s practice. “I think it’s just the reality of a guy who just maybe has less reps and you may pay closer attention.”
The first Big 12 availability report for the week, which will include designations for Leavitt, Brown, Udoh and Helton among others, will drop at 7 p.m. MST.
