‘21 AL QB Riley Leonard (Duke Transfer - Notre Dame Verbal)

[ulukinatme]

 

[BoredIrish]

MF and Gino in Bama... Gotta be for Gunner right?

 

[IrishWayDomer]

I miss Leonard already. I hate that our time was so short with him.

 

[Old Man Mike]

What I "hate" about myself is how long it took me to really see that I could trust this very unorthodox quarterback.

AND I was so focussed worrying about his quarterbacking, that I didn't see how good a person he was until very late.

Sorry young man. You did us proud.

 

[Sunshine]

Riley seems like such a good kid. So tough and high leadership and character. I hope he throws it well enough to stick in the league as a number 2 and make a bunch of money.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Love this kid.... I promise I'll buy him whatever and however much beer he wants if he's ever back in South Bend when I am

 

[beryirish]

That's pretty neat seeing Simone Eli in that tweet. She went to my high school and played basketball with my sisters. I clicked her X account and see that she has done amazing for herself.

 

[IAIrish]

Love this kid.... I promise I'll buy him whatever and however much beer he wants if he's ever back in South Bend when I am

Honest question: does someone that religious drink alcohol? I'd wager no.

 

[Irish du Nord]

Sargarin's Final 2023 rankings - we were sneaky very good, and likey would have been a betting favorite over UW in the title. Wild.

2023 was also our highest FPI rating (22+) in the 20 year history of the metric....until 2024.

My takeaway from the 2023 season is that we lacked leadership to win evenly matched games. Mostly on field, imo. I think Hartman shrank under pressure against Louisville and Clemson. And he missed his shot against OSU a couple times, we couldn't deliver the death blow because he was unable or unwilling to make plays when it counted.

 

[Bluto]

Honest question: does someone that religious drink alcohol? I'd wager no.

The local priest where I grew up drank quite a bit of alcohol. Just sayin.

 

[NDohio]

Honest question: does someone that religious drink alcohol? I'd wager no.

Yeah, it really does vary from church to church on what their stance is. If he comes from a Baptist/Church of God type denomination he ain't touching the devil's juice.

 

[IAIrish]

The local priest where I grew up drank quite a bit of alcohol. Just sayin.

I knew several too, but not sure I'd consider them too religious...
They might have been in it for unlimited amounts of the sacrament..

 

[irishnd31]

The local priest where I grew up drank quite a bit of alcohol. Just sayin.

So he was the cool priest... 😎

 

[Bluto]

So he was the cool priest... 😎

Father Ken was the coolest!

Used to twist our arms behind our backs and make us say “I love Jesus” and “I hate guns!” Then would bless us with his ever present martini.

 

[IrishLion]

Riley talks about Notre Dame the way Lou Holtz talked about Notre Dame.

Very big "Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation's necessary. Those who don't, no explanation will suffice" energy.

The dude spent one year at ND and fully, 100% gets it. When a world-class human meets a world-class HC at a world-class institution... that's awesome.

Could very much see Riley being a great head coach simply as a leader of men one day.

Riley Leondard ND Head Coach 2040????

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

The 2023 team arguably had more talent (or at least 'as much' talent) as the 2024 team. They had a Top 5 defense in advanced stats and certainly had a much more talented OL when you consider the two tackles.

That team, IMO, goes at worst 11-1 and probably 12-0 with Denbrock. The three losses were Ohio State (easy win to be had because defense shut them down), Louisville where we turned it over a hundred times with horribly called offense, and Clemson where it was similar shit... defense forced tons of 3 & out, offense stunk up the joint because we couldn't scheme WRs open or run the ball. The WRs were terrible but we also did them no favors... I don't know much about football, but people I trust seemed to think the passing concepts were "JV high school level."

Coaching matters, Hartman was not put in position to succeed. That's also my big concern with what's going on at DC.

You're exactly right. There was a reason he wanted Ludwig. There was a reason they kept Rees on for the first year. I look at how they've handled the Denbrock and Ash hirings since then. Coach Free has learned some valuable lessons.

That said, I'm far less concerned about DC because that's Freeman's side of the ball. Right now offensively we have steady hands in Denbrock, DMc and Rudolph who have been around.

Three years at Notre Dame is worth more experience than most other places. It all comes down to having confidence in Coach Free. I think to this point he's probably earned that. Apart from the three losses where they were heavy favorites, the one embarrassing loss he's had was probably the Louisville game you mentioned, and the final was a 13 point defeat in the end. He's never really been blown out to this point.

Between Free, Mick and Ash I think they'll put the defense in position to succeed. Especially with what they have returning for 2025.

 

[NDPhilly]

 

[irishandy]

What I really liked about Leonard was how he embraced his time at ND, how faithful he is, and how he showed his appreciation for Notre Dame.

His game improved as the season when on and the team rallied around him.

 

[Dale]

In at QB on NFL Network now

Kiser, Oben and Leonard are all on the orange team

 

[NDPhilly]

6/7 for 54 yards at the half. Good showing so far.

 

[stlnd01]

6/7 for 54 yards at the half. Good showing so far.

That's better numbers than a fair number of the halves he played for us.

 

[NDPhilly]

Milroe has been horrendous. Just murdering his Stock at the senior bowl

 

[Dale]

Get him to South Bend ASAP

 

[bumpdaddy]

That's better numbers than a fair number of the halves he played for us.

That would be true for just about every QB in the country.

Kind of a weird dig considering he was actually pretty accurate - 15th in the country in completion percentage (67%) ahead of guys like Ewers, Allar, McCord, and Klubnik.

 

[ulukinatme]

Milroe has been horrendous. Just murdering his Stock at the senior bowl

Tommy got him into the Heisman race two years ago, that dude knew how to make lemonade with lemons.

 

[FWIrish4]

That would be true for just about every QB in the country.

Kind of a weird dig considering he was actually pretty accurate - 15th in the country in completion percentage (67%) ahead of guys like Ewers, Allar, McCord, and Klubnik.

Yeah Leonard unfortunately has the stigma that he can’t pass whatsoever, which is incredibly untrue. This is nationally and within our own fanbase. I have a few buddies that still think Leonard can’t throw a 5 yard pass lol.

Part of it is the NIU game being stuck in people’s brains and the main reason was ND’s offensive game plan never wanting/needing the offense to open it up throwing.

Also, the lack of play action all year will continue to bother me but the oline being inexperienced and then banged up throughout the year was probably that reason. In my personal opinion, we were also not very creative at all with our route concepts.

You can’t be a bad passer and do shit like this below. I promise you.

 

[Giddyup]

Probably cause his first four games he had 1 td 2 ints and averaged about 110 yds passing.

 

[stlnd01]

That would be true for just about every QB in the country.

Kind of a weird dig considering he was actually pretty accurate - 15th in the country in completion percentage (67%) ahead of guys like Ewers, Allar, McCord, and Klubnik.

It was a joke not a dig. Relax. I love Leonard, though it is also true that he threw for less than 200 yards in 9 of our 16 games and was usually good for two or three "what the hell" misses per game, especially in the first half of the season. That said, to FW's point he also has a very big arm. Throws like the one in that video and the deep shot to Faison against Indiana were super impressive.

Really interested to see where he winds up draft-wise.

 

[bumpdaddy]

It was a joke not a dig. Relax. I love Leonard, though it is also true that he threw for less than 200 yards in 9 of our 16 games and was usually good for two or three "what the hell" misses per game, especially in the first half of the season. That said, to FW's point he also has a very big arm. Throws like the one in that video and the deep shot to Faison against Indiana were super impressive.

Really interested to see where he winds up draft-wise.

I can be relaxed and point out that a joke and a dig can be the same thing, and you were definitely digging. That's OK. I was pointing out that your joke was weird considering most good jokes are rooted in something that is more true about the subject than others, and your joke wasn't.

So ultimately, I'm criticizing your humor.

 

[NDPhilly]

Thinking about this play.