“Alright, let’s go get this thing done.”
That was the message that Notre Dame’s backup quarterback, junior Steve Angeli, delivered to the starter, senior Riley Leonard, at halftime of the College Football Playoff semifinal last Thursday night.
But at that point in time, not much had transpired in the first 30 minutes of Notre Dame’s Orange Bowl matchup with Penn State to inspire confidence that Leonard and the Irish would be able to make good on those words. Prior to halftime, Leonard had thrown for just 63 yards in addition to a costly interception, and the Nittany Lions jumped out to a two-possession lead while Notre Dame struggled to find any semblance of a rhythm offensively.
In fact, it was Angeli who provided the spark for the Irish after Leonard exited the game in the final minutes of the second quarter to be evaluated for a potential head injury after taking a big hit from Penn State defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas as he released a pass. Coming off the bench cold in one of the Irish’s biggest games in recent memory, Angeli rose to the occasion, completing six of his seven pass attempts for 44 yards. He perfectly executied a two-minute drill that culminated with a badly needed 41-yard field goal from graduate kicker Mitch Jeter as time expired in the half to send Notre Dame into the locker room trailing 10-3 and, for the first time all night, with some semblance of momentum on its side.
Yet despite Leonard’s struggles, after confirming that his teammate was indeed healthy and would be ready to go for the most important half of Notre Dame’s season, the first thought that immediately entered Angeli’s mind was a sense of complete and utter belief that the Irish’s gutsy leader would be able to guide Notre Dame to victory.
And he was far from the only one on the Irish sideline who felt that way. Several hours later — after Leonard reentered the game in the second half to run for a touchdown, throw for another and make clutch play after clutch play down the stretch to lead the Irish to a historic 27-24 comeback win and a national title game berth while earning Orange Bowl Offensive MVP honors – Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke about the fight put on display by his quarterback.
“You can’t [quantify Leonard’s value to the Irish] by stats, you can by heart. When it matters the most, Riley Leonard is going to put his body on the line for this program. And he does it over and over and over, and he finds a way to make a play when you need it the most,” Freeman said postgame. “We have the utmost confidence in him — no matter what happened the first half or what happened the last play — on this play, when we need it the most, we know Riley’s going to get it done. He did it again tonight.”
In Leonard’s own words, late in the game, Freeman “just came over and told me he knew who I was and [that] the team believed in me … We have a resilient group. I knew it was time to go and execute.”
But where did this unwavering trust in Leonard come from? How did he gain the reputation among teammates and coaches as the ultimate gamer, someone with ice in his veins when the pressure’s at its peak and who is seemingly the physical embodiment of toughness in the clutch?
From the outside looking in, it’s not too obvious. Since arriving on campus in South Bend last spring after transferring from Duke, Leonard has presented himself to fans and media as understated and easygoing, someone who is rarely seen without a grin on his face and prefers to be out of the spotlight while deferring any and all praise and accolades to teammates whenever possible.
He wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of star Irish sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love to his press conference after Notre Dame’s first-round playoff victory over Indiana, he can rarely make it through a single interview question about himself without bringing up the Irish offensive line or defense and he’s famously asked his mom to text him “You suck” before every game he’s played since high school as motivation and to remind him to keep a level head.
When being interviewed on the field after the win against Penn State, he said, “I shouldn’t be the one on the microphone right now, I didn’t do my part tonight but, heck, these guys did and they carried me throughout the entire game.” When the Irish bounced back emphatically from a shocking defeat against Northern Illinois with a 66-7 thrashing of Purdue, Leonard was asked when the last time was that he had this much fun on a football field and wryly responded with a laugh, “It wasn’t last week, probably two weeks ago.”
But don’t let his even-tempered and self-deprecating demeanor fool you, as it belies a steely competitor who’s proven himself to be tough as nails time and time again. After all, there’s a reason why Notre Dame pursued him so hard in the transfer portal last offseason, a reason why he was named a team captain in his first and only season with the Irish and a reason why Freeman has constantly referred to him as a “competitor” and someone that Notre Dame is “so grateful to have … here.”
Leonard is about as tough as they come as a quarterback and a leader, and if there’s one thing he’s never been understated about — from his first day on campus to the final week leading up to Monday night’s national championship game — it’s why he chose to spend his final college season at Notre Dame, and what he believes he and his team are capable of.
“Throughout this whole offseason, everybody would ask me why I came to Notre Dame,” Leonard said after the Orange Bowl. “The truth is, I came here to win a national championship.”
For much of the season, though, that looked like less of a realistic goal and more like the longest of long shots.
Very little of the last year has gone according to plan for Leonard. He dealt with significant injuries during his junior season at Duke that forced him to miss several games as well as the entirety of spring practice at Notre Dame while he underwent three surgeries, making the already-difficult transition into a new school, program and offense even more challenging.
Once Leonard was finally healthy and the Irish’s 2024 season kicked off, things got off to an auspicious start, with a huge win on the road against Texas A&M. But just one week later — seemingly out of nowhere — everything fell apart on one fateful Saturday afternoon in South Bend. In Notre Dame’s home opener against Northern Illinois, Leonard tossed a pair of interceptions while the Irish struggled greatly on both sides of the ball, falling 16-14 in the final seconds against the four-touchdown underdog Huskies.
In a matter of hours, it felt to many like Notre Dame’s season had — for all intents and purposes — ended. Leonard wrote in a recent message to Notre Dame fans in The Players’ Tribune that it was “the worst game of [his] whole life,” that he felt like he “let a lot of people down” and that he hoped he could “wake up and have this all be a nightmare.” There were widespread calls from fans for Leonard to be benched, and the loss was described as one of the most embarrassing in recent college football memory. Freeman said after the game that “this is as low as it gets.”
But while it’s easy to preach toughness when the sun is shining and things are going well, it’s in those dark moments where it can truly be seen. Prior to Notre Dame’s regular season finale against USC, Freeman reflected on Leonard’s response to the Irish’s loss to Northern Illinois.
“As a father, I would want someone to describe my children the way I view Riley Leonard,” Freeman said. “He is a great person. As a football player, he’s done nothing but continuously grow and get better … You realize a lot about a person’s character when they’re down and Riley is a competitor. He’s a fighter. He didn’t want anyone to feel bad for himself. He wanted to work. That’s what I’ve learned about Riley Leonard.”
And it’s what everyone who’s watched Notre Dame in the 13 games since that day has learned about him too. Leonard has repeatedly given all the credit to Freeman and his teammates for never doubting him and helping him regain his confidence. And over the course of the fall that’s now stretched into the winter, he’s turned into one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks, accounting for 19 touchdowns through the air and another 16 on the ground while never shying away from a hit or opting not to battle for extra yards. Early in the season, Freeman urged his quarterback to make an effort to avoid hits and play with less of a reckless abandon but has seemingly given up on that plea in the later stages of the year. It’s simply part of Leonard’s DNA.
It’s fitting that his most indelible, memorable moment with the Irish — up to this point, at least — was not a moonshot dropped perfectly into the hands of a downfield receiver racing down the sideline or a frozen rope over the middle of the field that zipped through the defense before reaching its intended target in the end zone. He has made many plays like that over the course of the season, despite what his relatively pedestrian passing totals might suggest. Instead, it came in the final minutes of the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal win against Georgia. On a third and seven late in the fourth quarter with the Irish clinging to a two-possession lead, Leonard kept the ball on a designed keeper and escaped around the edge before wildly hurdling toward the sticks, absorbing a huge midair hit and landing on his head but picking up the needed yards with a somersault to effectively ice the game for Notre Dame.
“When you’re struggling in the passing game, you’ve got to put your body on the line and [do] whatever it takes to win, that’s what I tell these guys all the time,” Leonard said after the Sugar Bowl. “I try to lead by example and put my body out on the line, and that hopefully let’s these guys know how much I care about them, how much I care about this university.”
And after doing exactly what Angeli told him to do last Thursday — returning from injury in the second half to rally the Irish past Penn State and into the national championship game, where they’ll meet Ohio State — he’s just days away from having the chance to “go get this thing done” one final time and go down as an all-time legend in Notre Dame’s storied history.
“[Freeman] said ‘History is written by conquerors, and we’re holding the pen,’” Leonard said postgame about his head coach’s halftime speech during the Orange Bowl. “We decide how we want to write our history. I am a firm believer in, whether you think you can, or you can’t do something – you’re right. We believed that we could do it, and we went out there and did it.”
In a way, Leonard’s approach to the game — his toughness, grit, resiliency, relentless drive to win and unwavering commitment to his teammates — exemplifies the spirit of this entire Irish team and the Notre Dame program under Freeman as a whole.
In the face of a seemingly unending stream of season-ending injuries to key players, a stunning upset loss at the hands of Northern Illinois that made them the laughing stock of college football and a loud and persistent narrative that Notre Dame is a program that simply can’t step up when the lights shine brightest, this Irish team — and its leader — have persevered time and time again and now find themselves playing on the final Monday of the season, with just one more obstacle standing between them and the ultimate goal.
“He’s a competitor, and competitors find a way to win. That’s what Riley does, that’s what this team does,” Freeman said about Leonard postgame after the Irish punched their ticket to the title game. “This is a bunch of competitors and [they] find a way. It’s an honor to be a part of it with them and I’m looking forward to this next one.”
Leonard — and the Irish — have now found a way to win 13 times in a row. And as for “this next one?” It could make Notre Dame national champions for the first time since 1988 and see this Irish team go down in history as the first team to win the new 12-team College Football Playoff. With Ohio State heading to Atlanta as heavy favorites, the odds are stacked against the Irish, but that’s been the case all season long, and they’re not prepared to let it stop them now.
“We’re done being afraid of anything — I know that much about this team. I know that, win or lose, we’re going to do it our way: We’re going to dare greatly,” Leonard wrote in The Players’ Tribune. “And maybe we’ll stumble again. Maybe we’ll come up short. But as long as our season is still alive, I can promise you, we’re going to try like heck to achieve greatness. If it’s there on that football field, we’ll find it.”
When everything’s on the line, all the chips are down and the fate of a season comes down to a single game, it’s never a bad bet to go with the toughest person and competitor on the field.
Luckily for the Irish, that guy will be wearing No. 13 for them on Monday night, strapping on his gold helmet one final time in a season that he’s called a “dream come true” as he prepares to lay it all out on the line for his Notre Dame teammates and do everything in his power to help lead them to glory.
“It doesn’t even feel real,” Leonard said after the Orange Bowl about the chance to play for a national championship. “To be here on this stage, we’re going to enjoy it, [but] we’ve got one more left.”
