Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 29 S orry, Colin Cowherd. And naysayers. Doubters. De- tractors. Riley Leonard is a backwards hat guy. And you're just going to have to deal with it. Sometimes the Notre Dame quarterback shows up in one fo r p re ga m e wa r m u p s a n d stretches. But the main reason we know he likes to spin the bill around his noggin is because he's finished spinning footballs be- fore the conclusion of 60-min- ute games multiple times this season. Leonard, with all of his deficiencies and flaws and whatever else folks like to lead on and on about, is accounting for roughly 237 total yards and between 2 and 3 touchdowns per game two-thirds of the way through his lone season as Notre Dame's starting quarterback. He had 261 and 3 in the Irish's 51-14 victory over Navy, right on cue. As a result, Notre Dame is very much a topic of conversation in the College Football Playoff picture a week and a half before the inaugural CFP rankings of 2024 are released Nov. 5. Notre Dame does not have a game between now and then. Just as he did a month ago, Leonard has earned himself the right to play some golf, weather-permitting this time of year in South Bend, or catch a bass or two soaking up some serenity at the lake during the Irish's bye week. The Irish still only have one loss. Granted, Leonard was a big reason why Notre Dame lost that one and only game to Northern Illinois in Week 2. But he's also been a big reason why the Irish have won half a dozen games in a row since then. There have been far more ups than downs with Leonard at the controls at this point. He's learned to deal with the latter and subsequently produce more of the former through a support system that can only be described as supremely Notre Dame. "A lot of factors come into play there," Leonard said. "I'll start with everybody that's around me. You look at guys like Sam Hartman, who gave me a call and really spoke to me about the opportuni- ties that we have being quarterbacks at Notre Dame. "You look at Tyler Buchner, who came back here. Going out to eat with him and having his perspective on everything really helped me out a lot. He doesn't get enough credit. He puts so much into this program now. That's been a big help for me. Every single teammate that's held me accountable." Hartman started 12 games for Notre Dame and lost three. Buchner started three and lost two. Leonard has started eight and lost one. At some point, even if you're one of those who complains that he "can't pass" or is a "running back trying to play quarterback," you have to acknowledge that outside of one slip up against a pesky, well-coached Huskies team, Leonard has done ab- solutely everything he was brought to South Bend to do. Even if Notre Dame was 6-2 or 5-3 and out of the CFP run- ning — at this point last year, Hartman and Co. were a cou- ple games away from dropping to 7-3 — Leonard seems like he wouldn't be too down on himself. He's learned to love the gig he described as "over- wh e l m i n g " a t f i rs t . I t to o k conversations with Hartman, Buchner and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman to get there. "Me and Coach Freeman were talking about it one time; every- body goes into games — I'd say I feel like I certainly did the first couple weeks — thinking, 'What if?'" Leonard said. "What if I mess up? What if this happens? At the end of the day, if I go into the game thinking what if — even if everything falls down and we hit rock bottom — my Lord and savior is always going to be there for me. "Nothing's going to change with that. That's been the big- gest thing." Leonard leans on his faith, in good times and bad. Notre Dame leans on Leonard. It has to. This is the player the program pulled in from the portal, the one who had 21 career starts to his name while the rest of the scholarship quar- terbacks on the roster have one com- bined between the three of them. Leonard is up to 28 now, with seven more wins than he had before he got to South Bend. He has four guaranteed starts remaining in a gold helmet, and it's very possible the same people who lambasted him for poor play are begin- ning to think it isn't entirely far-fetched to entertain the notion of Notre Dame playing four more beyond that well into January. "It's been a work in progress, obvi- ously, but we're getting better every week," Leonard said. ✦ Leonard had another strong game for the Fighting Irish with 3 total touchdowns and 0 turnovers versus Navy. PHOTO BY BILL STREICHER It's Time To Appreciate Riley Leonard's Success Story Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA