Paul Finebaum tabs LSU's Sam Leavitt as more impactful newcomer vs. Auburn's Byron Brown

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is spending the week mere feet from the beautiful sandy shores of Miramar Beach, Fla., the site of the SEC’s annual Spring meetings. And while much of the conversation will surround the future of College Football Playoff expansion and potential conference-wide governance, Finebaum is still more than willing to dive into more trivial topics, including the SEC’s most impactful newcomer.

Finebaum, host of the SEC Network‘s The Paul Finebaum Show, weighed in on the aforementioned topic during a Tuesday afternoon SportsCenter hit with Miramar Beach in the background. And, for Finebaum, there’s no question who will be the SEC’s more impactful newcomer between LSU‘s Sam Leavitt and Auburn‘s Byrum Brown, two of the bigger quarterback transfers on the market this offseason.

“It’s Leavitt because he’s on a potential national championship team,” Finebaum said Tuesday afternoon. “Brown and his team would be happy to make a bowl game, which they haven’t had a winning record in six years.

“So I think Leavitt has a lot of pressure on him, and he was also the biggest find in the portal. And Lane Kiffin is a quarterback whisperer, and I expect them to make the Playoffs with Leavitt under center.”

Leavitt was unquestionably the prized offseason addition for new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin, who overhauled the Tigers roster with a 40-player portal class. Along with Leavitt, the No. 2 overall player and No. 1-ranked QB, LSU’s transfer class featured three of the Top 5 available players overall in On3’s Transfer Portal Player Ranking, including top-ranked EDGE Princewill Umanmielen (Ole Miss) and OT Jordan Seaton (Colorado), the No. 2 lineman.

Meanwhile, Brown signed with Auburn as the No. 5 available quarterback — and No. 21 player overall — in the 2026 transfer cycle as part of several South Florida transfers that followed former Bulls head coach Alex Golesh to The Plains. And while there’s plenty of hope and hype around what Brown could do for Auburn this season, especially posting an American Conference-best 347.2 total yards per game in 2025.

But as Finebaum points out, LSU and Leavitt enter the 2026 season with exceedingly more hype and championship potential than Auburn has. In fact, after three 5-7 seasons over the past four years, Auburn and Golesh are far more focused on securing bowl eligibility than a Playoff bid.

Leavitt on the other hand will be tasked with returning LSU to the CFP for the first time since the program’s historic 15-0 national championship season in 2019. And much like Burrow, Leavitt’s arrival via the transfer portal could prove to be the difference-maker for a reloaded LSU roster.