Year in and year out, one of the more enviable jobs in all of college athletics is that of the Notre Dame football team’s starting quarterback. In 2024, that title goes to Riley Leonard.
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Leonard spent three seasons quarterbacking Duke, where he completed 382 passes on 618 attempts for 4,450 yards and 24 touchdowns. His 2023 season was cut short due to an ankle injury he sustained against, coincidentally, Notre Dame in Week 5, when Duke was 4-0.
Leonard’s performances against the Irish and others impressed Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman (now in his third full season). So, when Leonard entered the transfer portal the week after the Blue Devils’ last regular-season game, it took less than two weeks before he had committed to the Irish. Notre Dame was the only school he visited.
A dream come true. Go Irish ☘️ pic.twitter.com/2Ft09Ho4uj
— Riley Leonard (@rileyleonard13_) December 12, 2023
Leonard’s great-grandfather, James Curran, played at Notre Dame in the early 1940s.
“To be able to live his legacy and feel what he felt back in the day really means a lot to me, and it obviously means a lot to my family,” Leonard said in a video for the apparel brand New Era Cap.
One game in and the match seems to be working quite well, and Leonard has the Notre Dame faithful believing this could be the team to return the Fighting Irish to the top of the college football world.
Ranked No. 7 to begin the season, the Irish stormed into College Station, Texas, to face No. 20 Texas A&M (now led by Leonard’s former coach at Duke, Mike Elko) and headed home with a 23-13 victory on Saturday. Leonard threw for 158 yards, added another 63 on the ground, and his poise and experience against the Aggies’ swarming defense was crucial to the win. Notre Dame moved up to No. 5 in Tuesday’s new AP rankings.
Now, the Irish appears to have an inside track on a berth in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. According to ESPN Analytics, Notre Dame has the greatest chance of winning each of its remaining 11 games, including the regular-season finale on the road against USC.
Yet, as Leonard lives out a dream of playing for the Irish and has aspirations of chasing a national title, he seeks to also grow spiritually. He has said that being raised in Fairhope, Alabama, shaped a lot of who he is and his beliefs.
“Every single person in that city that I came into contact with helped me with my faith. I’m able to bring that here. Obviously that’s the most important thing in my life.” Leonard said this February, according to The Irish Tribune. “When I go to bed at night, I’m not thinking, ‘How many touchdown passes did I throw?’ ‘Did we win or lose?’ I’m thinking, ‘Did I better my relationship with Jesus Christ? Did I treat my girlfriend with respect? Did I call my parents?'”
Throughout his time at Duke, and now in his one game at Notre Dame, Leonard has worn a wristband with one of his favorite Bible verses, Matthew 23:12, which reads, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” In a postgame interview with ESPN on Saturday, Leonard showed off his wristband to the watching audience.
He sometimes posts about his faith on Instagram, and he writes in his bio, “No God – No Peace. Know God – Know Peace.”
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In his postgame press conference following Notre Dame’s victory against Texas A&M, Leonard revealed that a large number of players participate in a team Bible study every week.
“One of the biggest bragging points about this team is we have, like, 40 guys show up to our Bible study sometimes every Thursday. That’s really a credit to them. It started with, like, five guys, but it’s grown to 40,” Leonard said. “This team is just so close. And everything that we do, we do as a unit.”
He ended his press conference with another reference to God.
“God bless,” he said as he rose to leave.
Leonard knows it’s God who led him to South Bend, to take on the task of being Notre Dame’s starting quarterback. God has him there for a purpose, and that ultimate purpose is to make the name of Jesus known on his team and beyond through the game of football.
This week, Notre Dame will seek to move one step closer to a perfect season when it takes on Northern Illinois (1-0) in South Bend, Indiana, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<
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