Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2024 23 BY TYLER HORKA L et's condition the "transfer quar- terback" stigma away from just being a Notre Dame thing, shall we? It really does happen all over. Not just South Bend. Ohio State, the quarterback factory of all quarterback factories, took in Will Howard from Kansas State. If a Wildcat can become a Buckeye, it shouldn't be frowned upon for a Demon Deacon or a Blue Devil to turn Irish. The truth is, it doesn't matter what a signal-caller did at his previous stop — good or bad. He'll be judged for how he did at the last one. For Sam Hartman, that was for better or worse. What will it be for Riley Leonard? That's exactly where we start the 2024 Notre Dame spring football overview. GROOMING THE GUY It was Leap Day. So Riley Leonard leapt. Notre Dame's new quarterback, a Duke transfer who started 21 games in a Blue Devils uniform in the last three seasons, grabbed a couple of mini basketballs on the court at Purcell Pavilion and slung them into the stands during a timeout in the middle of the Notre Dame women's basketball team's 71-58 win over then- No. 5 Virginia Tech Feb. 29. He wasn't afraid to leave the ground to toss the balls as far up the arena seats as he could — with head coach Marcus Freeman sitting courtside, no less. It was a solid sign the ankle he had surgi- cally repaired in mid-January is ready to go for spring practices. It's all systems go for Leonard. Thus, for the third time in four years, the most intriguing component of Notre Dame spring practices is the guy taking snaps behind center simply by way of the natural novelty he presents. First there was Jack Coan. Then there was Sam Hartman. Now there's Riley Leonard. There exists an element of anticipation that comes with anything new. And when the new thing happens to be a player in the most important po- sition on the football field, anticipation is cranked up to inexorable excitement. Notre Dame fans have extra reason to be optimistic for who Leonard could be in South Bend because he's being taught by the offensive coordinator who just led the No. 1 offense in the country at LSU, one that platformed a Heisman Trophy winner in Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels. New Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has put together quite an im- pressive track record since he left the Notre Dame coaching staff at the end of the 2016 season. He guided eventual NFL Draft choice Desmond Ridder at Cincinnati and was there for the rewriting of Daniels' career in Baton Rouge. Good things happen to the offenses Denbrock oversees, and the quarterbacks he works with tend to improve. We just saw with Hartman everything is not always what you hope it to be or what it looks like it's going to be from the onset. Hartman's ups and downs last fall were tough to compartmentalize. The same peaks and valleys could eas- ily be on Leonard's horizon. There are things to figure out around him that must be stabilized for him to have more high points and fewer low ones. But you've got to like how Notre Dame has gone about helping him from a coaching and roster management standpoint so far. Now it's about trading in mini basket- balls for footballs and getting to work. AVOIDING ANOTHER QB DEPARTURE The precedent is set. And it's not a good one for Notre Dame. Last year, the Irish welcomed Sam Hartman to campus. Everyone em- braced the addition of a veteran quar- terback, right on down to rising junior Tyler Buchner. But within days of the completion of the Blue-Gold Game, Buchner was in the transfer portal. He wasn't ever going to play another down for Notre Dame just months after he quarterbacked the Irish to a victory in the Gator Bowl. Sounds eerily familiar. Steve Angeli is now the one who's months removed from quarterbacking Notre Dame to a bowl win, and he argu- ably did it in more impressive fashion than Buchner. Sure, Buchner won Ga- tor Bowl MVP honors two years ago but he also threw 2 interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and 3 total. Angeli didn't have any picks in the Sun Bowl. He was calm, cool, collected and, to add to the cliché phrase, cal- culated. He avoided errant passes that could turn into costly mistakes in a way Buchner did not. That said, he's a quarterback Notre Dame sure would like to keep on the 2024 roster — and beyond — even with Leonard coming in to start for a season like Hartman did last year. This spring is shaping up to mirror the last one in South Bend as it relates to the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart. Angeli has the potential to go toe- to-toe with Leonard, just like Buchner did with Hartman. And if you remem- ber, there were days back then when it really did look like Buchner was either right there with Hartman or even out- playing him at times. Here is where things are a little dif- ferent. Gerad Parker adopted many of the same principles of the Tommy Rees Leonard is the favorite to start at quarterback for the Fighting Irish for the duration of the 2024 season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER LEANING ON LEONARD A transfer quarterback is at the forefront of Notre Dame spring ball storylines once again, and this time all eyes are on Riley Leonard 2024 S P R I N G F O O T B A L L O V E R V I E W