Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1535097
28 SUMMER 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE I n hindsight, Riley Leonard wishes he knew what was in that box. During the early weeks of his sea- son as the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, fans would send mail and the occasional package to his house. The most memorable one said "grandma's cookies" on it, for some reason. Leonard didn't care to find out what was inside. "It's like, 'All right, what's in this box?'" Leonard told Blue & Gold Il- lustrated, laughing. "I wish I would've opened it now." Leonard can look back and laugh now, during a Zoom interview April 12. It wasn't as easy then. It was September, and Leonard was deeply unpopular. He was the prized transfer quar- terback whose performance against Northern Illinois led to one of the most embarrassing losses in program history. Some of the criticism he could avoid. Others, he didn't have a choice. Boxes weren't the worst of it. After one of the most remarkable single-season journeys a quarterback can have, though, they are among his few regrets. "At the time, I would get those boxes and just throw them away immediately," Leonard said. "But now, looking back, I'm like, 'What was really in those boxes?'" * * * Leonard sat in the locker room at Ross- Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, his life as a quarterback flashing before his eyes. He had convinced himself that Pur- due, which would not win another game the rest of the season, was the best team in the country. Maybe even the world. He had no choice but to treat that game like the Super Bowl. "It's easily the most nervous I've been before any game of all time," Leonard said. That week began, as Leonard has told other outlets, with a meeting in Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman's office. As the story goes, he thought Freeman was about to tell him he would never start for the Irish again. Instead, his coach laughed and told him that one day, he'd be thankful for NIU. But while Freeman might not have told him explicitly, Leonard knew his performance at Purdue would dictate what happened next. Of course, Leonard played well. He wasn't perfect, but he ran for 3 touch- downs, built a 42-0 first-half lead as the Boilermakers capitulated and did more than enough to keep his job. It also reassured him that the Irish were who they thought they were. "After that game, even, it was like, 'All right, we know who we are,'" Leonard said. "'Week 2 was a fluke. It was the best thing that could've happened to us. We know we can beat anybody in the country if we play like this.'" But there was still a lingering feeling, Leonard explained, that Notre Dame might never get to prove it. The Irish knew one more loss would eliminate them from playoff contention. And thus began their 81-day odyssey of "survive and advance." Leonard would later write in a Players' Tribune article that Notre Dame took the "hardest, messiest, craziest path by far" to the CFP. He told BGI that it was a weird feeling each week, not being able to celebrate wins. He and his teammates knew that if they didn't do the same next week, they would be done. "Yeah, shoot, every week was a dog- fight," Leonard said. "It was catching up all season. We were never ahead of schedule, if that makes sense. We were always behind and kind of a little bit paranoid, but trying to enjoy the process at the same time." Leonard kept his sanity by reminding himself who he was playing for. "When you hit rock bottom, it can't get much worse," Leonard said. "So ev- ery game, every week, every time you're watching film, it's like, you gotta figure out why you're doing it. And it's not for anybody's satisfaction but yourself and the guys in the building." * * * Leonard said during the season that he never saw what people said about him on the internet in September and early October. That much was true. A CRAZY PATH Riley Leonard opens up about his season-long odyssey at Notre Dame Reflecting on his time at Notre Dame, Leonard (far right) said, "I think the coolest thing for me is being a part of the guys that have been there for four and five years, and seeing the smiles on their faces and all the hard work they've done pay off after every single win and every trip that we took. Notre Dame's a tough place to go to school and play football, but guys have waited their whole career for this moment." PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER