Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard to Miss Next Few Weeks
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard’s time in South Bend has been more focused on his ankle than throwing footballs and that will continue as the 6-foot-4, 217-pounder will be out for a few weeks of spring football per head coach Marcus Freeman.
Leonard. who had tightrope surgery in January, had another procedure done on his ankle this week.
“He’ll be out the next few weeks due to an additional surgery on his ankle,” said Freeman, who mentioned a stress fracture was developing. “We’re not saying he’s out for the spring.”
The original injury is one from last fall while he led the Duke program and Notre Dame’s training staff recommended tightrope surgery to be ready for spring ball.
“We got here and, ‘Ah, you know, we could risk it and play It ended up healing pretty well. We could risk it and play in spring and maybe in the fall and have no problems,’” stated Leonard in January.
“But there was a risk of re-injuring it because it was a little loose. That's what they said. And yeah, so we were just like, ‘Let's get it done now. It's January.’”
Long-term, it doesn’t seem like it will be something Leonard will deal with in the fall, but the short-term consequences are significant.
Notre Dame wasn’t going to push him hard this spring, but Leonard will miss live reps in a new offense with new teammates. Building chemistry, comfort and rapport are crucial details for a quarterback and Leonard will now be behind the 8-ball even more.
Spring practice has now turned into a big opportunity for the rest of the quarterback room in many aspects. They will get valuable reps in Leonard’s absence, which will benefit them long-term. For Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr, it’s probably a year to go before they are in the mix to be the starter, but the more reps, the quicker their development can be.
Steve Angeli will have the opportunity to build even more chemistry with the first-team offense and get reps he hadn’t received in practice over his first two springs.
Overall, it’s a tough situation for Leonard, but one he can catch up on if he returns along with summer player-run workouts.
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