Riley Leonard had one part of his game he wished he could have showcased as a part of the Notre Dame football program
It was an interesting experience for quarterback Riley Leonard in his lone season with the Notre Dame program. After an early season blunder against Northern Illinois, Leonard and the Fighting Irish proceeded to win a program record 14 wins and a national championship appearance. It ended up being a bit of an unreal season. Leonard […]
It was an interesting experience for quarterback Riley Leonard in his lone season with the Notre Dame program. After an early season blunder against Northern Illinois, Leonard and the Fighting Irish proceeded to win a program record 14 wins and a national championship appearance. It ended up being a bit of an unreal season.
Leonard became the main catalyst for Notre Dame, ending the season throwing for 2,861 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing nearly 67 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 906 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground.
Despite that success, every Notre Dame fan knows that the passing offense wasn’t perfect. It lacked consistency with creating explosive plays. Leonard spoke about that inconsistency at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine on Friday.
"The one thing I wish I could have showcased more is probably the deep ball, probably extending the football down the field," Leonard told the media. "There were a lot of games this year where my job is to win football games, and there were games where we didn’t have to do that. That was perfectly fine with me. I’m not an ego guy or worried about stats or anything like that. My job is to win the football game, whatever that may be. Hopefully I’ll be able to showcase the deep ball more."
There is a very real question that needs to be asked by Notre Dame fans this offseason. Was this lack of an explosive passing game more because of Leonard, a lack of dynamic wide receivers, or a passive offensively ideology?
Most will automatically blame Leonard, but fully disregard the other possibilities. There are also some who believe that every fault will be fixed in 2025 with a new quarterback. Next season will provide some important clarity for what the real issue was, or still is.
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