Riley Leonard made a big jump this offseason, leaving Duke and transferring to Notre Dame, where he’s in line to be the starting quarterback. And so far, Leonard has noticed so differences between the two places.
Speaking at the Manning Passing Academy recently, Leonard dished on the differences. The biggest ones manifest mostly from the fervent following that Notre Dame football has.
“Obviously there’s a lot of social media attention that comes with it. I don’t really go on social media, so I’m not sure on that scale,” Leonard said.
While it was evident he didn’t want to disparage the Duke faithful, Leonard acknowledged there’s a different level of investment around South Bend.
“But I will say, walking around South Bend, you drive 15, 20, 30 minutes off campus, you’re still going to get some diehard Irish fans, which is really cool and I embrace,” Leonard said. “I think just the community as a whole is probably more into the football side of things, for sure.”
Leonard is finally feeling healthy again
Unfortunately, injuries followed Leoanrd from his time at Duke and have been an issue that he’s battling to get ready for the year.
While attending the Manning Passing Academy, Leonard shared that he’s feeling good after those injury issues and that he’ll have no limitations going into next season when he’s expected to be the starter for the Irish.
“Healthy, healthy, healthy,” Leonard said. “I can’t stress that enough. I’m very healthy. If you were walking around in my body, you wouldn’t even know you had any injuries in the first place. I’m feeling good. There’s no limitations to workout-wise that I’m doing. So, I feel good.”
A bit ironically, Leonard was initially injured during Duke’s game against Notre Dame in 2023. It came on the final play from scrimmage when he was hit and awkwardly had his leg trapped underneath him leading to an ankle injury. A few weeks later, he returned to play against Florida State but appeared to reaggravate the injury and left the game.
Leonard would go on to play against Louisville but got shut down for the rest of the season following that game with a toe injury.
Following the season, Leonard transferred to Notre Dame. While there, he missed winter workouts thanks to an ankle surgery that he needed. Unfortunately, Leonard would then miss time during the spring when he needed a second ankle injury, adding to the difficulty of his transition to a new program.
On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.
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