Riley Leonard

Riley Leonard
Notre Dame Fighting Irish – No. 13
PositionQuarterback
ClassSenior
MajorFilm, Television, and Theatre
Personal information
Born: (2002-09-13) September 13, 2002 (age 22)
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, U.S.
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight216 lb (98 kg)
Career history
College
Bowl games
High schoolFairhope (Fairhope, Alabama)

Riley James Leonard (born September 13, 2002) is an American college football quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He previously played for the Duke Blue Devils.

High school career

Leonard was born in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and moved to Fairhope, Alabama when he was in kindergarten.[1][2] Leonard attended Fairhope High School.[3] As a senior, he passed for 1,900 yards and 25 touchdowns and had 500 rushing yards. He committed to Duke University to play college football.[4] Leonard received offers to play college football from programs like Nebraska, Syracuse,[5] and Tulane. Leonard also played basketball in high school, receiving offers to play college basketball from programs like St. Mary's, North Alabama, Samford and Missouri State.[6][7]

College career

Leonard played in seven games and made one start as a true freshman at Duke in 2021. For the season, he completed 37 of 62 passes for 381 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Leonard was named the starting quarterback entering his sophomore season in 2022.[8][9][10] On November 29, 2023, Leonard announced he would be entering the transfer portal.[11] On December 12, 2023, Leonard announced he would be transferring to Notre Dame.[12]

Personal life

Leonard is a Christian.[2]

Statistics

Season Games Passing Rushing
GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg TD
Duke Blue Devils
2021 7 1 0–1 37 62 59.7 381 6.1 1 1 113.4 47 173 3.7 2
2022 13 13 9–4 250 392 63.8 2,967 7.6 20 6 141.1 124 699 5.6 13
2023 7 7 4–3 95 165 57.6 1,102 6.7 3 3 116.0 58 352 6.1 4
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2024 13 13 12–1 217 325 66.8 2,293 7.1 17 6 139.6 135 751 5.6 15
Career 40 34 25–9 599 944 63.5 6,743 7.1 41 16 134.4 364 1,975 5.4 34

References

  1. ^ Miller, Andrew (September 3, 2023). "Duke's Riley Leonard, son of ex-Citadel basketball player, blazes own trail". Post and Courier. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Sampson, Pete. "Notre Dame's Riley Leonard, the small-town QB with big-time ambitions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  3. ^ Ben Thomas (June 16, 2020). "Duke football commit Riley Leonard is top Coastal Athlete". AL.
  4. ^ Ben Thomas (May 18, 2020). "Fairhope 2021 QB Riley Leonard commits to ACC school". AL.
  5. ^ Mink, Nate (September 21, 2023). "After coveted QB recruit chose Duke, SU mined portal and landed its own star". Syracuse Post-Standard. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  6. ^ Krest, Shawn. "Riley Leonard: If Coach K Wants to Give Me a Shot, Who Knows?". Sports Illustrated.
  7. ^ Ben Thomas (May 4, 2020). "Fairhope 2-sport star 'leaning' toward football future". AL.
  8. ^ "Duke names Leonard as starting QB vs. Temple". ESPN. August 28, 2022.
  9. ^ Ben Thomas (August 31, 2022). "No surprise that Fairhope's Riley Leonard is QB1 at Duke". AL.
  10. ^ Cole McNanna (October 26, 2022). "Air Leonard: Former Fairhope Pirate quarterback leading resurgence of confidence, swagger in Duke football: Blue Devils on verge of bowl eligibility for first time since 2018". Gulf Coast Media.
  11. ^ "Duke quarterback Leonard enters transfer portal". ESPN.com. November 29, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  12. ^ "Duke QB Leonard transferring to Notre Dame". December 12, 2023.

Further reading