Nearly all of the attention surrounding the LSU Tigers over the last week has focused on whether former NFL players will be on the team’s roster this season.

But believe it or not, there’s something more important happening in Baton Rouge this week — LSU will play a football game against Clemson on Saturday.

And LSU head coach Lane Kiffin said something on Monday that should have fans feeling good about the offense heading into that matchup.

Lane Kiffin really likes where quarterback Sam Leavitt and the passing game is right now

Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt will be making his LSU debut on Saturday against Clemson.

Leavitt is obviously a talented player, but you never really know how things will go when a player makes their debut for a new team.

Kiffin, however, is feeling unusually optimistic about Leavitt and the offense heading into the opener.

“I think there’s been really good improvement,” said Kiffin on Monday when asked about the passing game. “I think that Sam has had a great camp — and I’m usually pretty hard on the evals of anyone. I usually don’t say [this] about us, but I can’t imagine it going much better for him. Now, we’ve got to make more plays around him, protect better, and be more consistent, but he’s been great.

“And the running game has looked really good. The running backs have really improved. It’s really kind of exciting to watch now. It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go do it on Saturday. But the way that it’s progressed — knowing that almost nobody was here from this offense and how it looked at the beginning of spring to how it looks now — it’s just exciting to see it all start to work together.”

Kiffin’s optimism, of course, doesn’t guarantee anything against Clemson.

But it’s certainly nice for LSU fans to hear that there’s confidence in the passing game.

There’s been a lot of unnecessary noise around the LSU program this week. At the end of the day, though, all that matters is winning on Saturday. If LSU can make a statement against Clemson, it’ll shift the attention back to what happens on the field, instead of the drama off the field.