What opposing coaches told The Athletic about Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard
As with any NFL Draft, the focus of the 2025 cycle will be the quarterbacks. But this class — including Notre Dame senior Riley Leonard — has a different feel to it than last season’s.
In 2024, there was a clear top prospect in Caleb Williams and another underclassman everyone knew would go top-five in Drake Maye. This season, though, the race to become the top quarterback is much more wide-open.
The Athletic senior college football writer Bruce Feldman spoke to coaches and personnel people around college football about the top quarterbacks. In addition to the early top three of Georgia’s Carson Beck, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Feldman identified 12 signal-callers as “potential big risers.”
Leonard was one of them. Here’s what Feldman’s sources said about Notre Dame’s likely starting quarterback.
For Feldman’s full story, click here.
What opposing coaches said about Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard
ACC head coach: “He’s faster than you think live. Tough kid. His accuracy comes in the intermediate passing game. He’s not a downfield guy. He’s not Sam Hartman. Sam was very accurate.”
Power 4 recruiting coordinator who evaluated Leonard: “We did study him a lot. He’s a really good athlete playing behind a terrible O-line. His accuracy was a little erratic. He’s a good competitor but just an average passer.”
ACC defensive coordinator: “He was a shell of himself when we played him. He’s a muscle thrower. I don’t think he’s an elite thrower. Can he make that jump? He has good size. He’s a winner. He’s tough as nails. People try and compare him to Hartman. Sam was a polished passer. Very accurate.”
Blue & Gold’s thoughts
First of all, that “He was a shell of himself when we played him” comment from the ACC defensive coordinator seems to reference Leonard’s games against Florida State on Oct. 21 and Louisville on Oct. 28. Leonard’s numbers from those two matchups, which are not pretty, can be thrown out when evaluating him as Notre Dame’s signal-caller in 2024.
These comments do line up with what Tyler Horka and I saw when we watched all of Leonard’s starts from 2021-23. He is a fierce competitor, extremely tough — you can see why his teammates love him; he exudes “That’s my quarterback” energy on the field — and a superb athlete. But we did have some concerns about his accuracy, particularly deep down the field.
In some ways, like Feldman’s sources alluded to, Leonard is the antithesis of Hartman. The exception is that both were very well-liked in their respective locker rooms. Hartman was an accurate deep passer, but while he wasn’t a statue (he could hurt a defense with his legs if he caught them sleeping), he wasn’t scaring anyone on designed runs. He also didn’t have the natural arm strength to put zip on the ball and impress NFL scouts, which is why he went undrafted.
Ball velocity is a strength of Leonard’s, but his touch on deep throws and layered throws between two levels of the defense does leave something to be desired.
The quote that stands out most to me is also from the ACC defensive coordinator: “Can he make that jump?” Tyler and I were asking ourselves that question while we watched his film. It would certainly not be unprecedented. Just look at LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Washington’s Michael Penix and Oregon’s Bo Nix did after transferring to better situations. Unlike Leonard, though, they each had two years at their new schools.
The Irish certainly saw the same things everyone else did on Leonard’s tape. They believe he can make that jump. If he does, Notre Dame is in business and Leonard could hear his name called on Day 1 of the NFL Draft.
Bonus: What coaches said about Notre Dame’s 2024 opponents
Big Ten recruiting coordinator who evaluated Florida State’s DJ Uiagalelei: “I think he got better at Oregon State. It was getting out of that scheme at Clemson that helped him. The arm talent and the feet have always been there. The consistent accuracy is a little better than it was. We liked him. We just didn’t love him.
“He’s a huge dude with a powerful arm, but his accuracy isn’t great. The ball comes undone sometimes. He’s just been very inconsistent, but there is some talent there.”
Power 4 defensive coordinator who faced Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman: “Man, he is very gifted and very tough. We hit him a bunch and we affected him, but it didn’t change him. From toughness to arm strength and ability to move in and out of the pocket, he’s the most complete quarterback I’ve seen in awhile. Not saying he was the best one, but I could see in a couple of more years, he will be elite. Pretty composed kid. I really thought a lot of that guy. He’s scary.”
Blue & Gold’s thoughts
I am in 100 percent agreement with the Power 4 defensive coordinator on Weigman, whom I believe is the best signal-caller the Irish will face. If I were Notre Dame, I’d be very happy to see him with only eight career starts under his belt and not 15-19. His ability to stand in the pocket, take hits and deliver accurate throws, as Feldman’s source said, is rare.
