Notre Dame's Offense Playing to Standard Behind QB Riley Leonard
Riley Leonard’s first three games at Notre Dame had it all.
The senior quarterback experienced the highs of a big win on the road at Texas A&M, the lows of Northern Illinois and then the emotions of a bounce-back win to get the program on the right track with the 66-7 win over Purdue on Saturday.
Leonard tallied 100 rushing yards and three scores on the ground while also completing 11-of-16 passes for 112 yards as the Irish offense rolled through Purdue’s defense to a total of 578 yards on the day, which was a drastic change from just seven days ago.
“Last week was tough for me,” Leonard stated. “It was pretty awful. I didn’t do a good job of handling success after week one. I learned from that. I learned the hard way last Saturday. After a game like this, you can’t get too high or too low.
“My coaches and teammates, all credit to them. All credit to Coach Free. He brought me to his office and every day saying, ‘Hey, you're the guy. I trust you and I have all the confidence in the world in you.’ That stuff built me up and this game I was extremely prepared. All week, I was just itching to get out to the field again to prove myself.”
What was the difference in this week?
Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock took a little more time to dive into what Leonard was comfortable with executing while also tossing out what he wasn’t confident in running following a series of tough conversations.
“All week, he was consistently reminding me he trusted me and had all the confidence in me,” said Leonard. “Today, before the game, he sent me a Bible verse. Those things can go a long way in a player-coach relationship. We sat down multiple times and I was open with him. What plays do I love? What plays have got to go and you call that and I’m running it or something.
“Just being honest with each other, being vulnerable and having open conversations is something that every offensive coordinator and quarterback have to have. This week, we nailed it. He called a game perfectly, in my opinion. That’s what gives me and the guys all the confidence in the world.”
Marcus Freeman also was pleased with his quarterback’s performance after struggling a week ago.
In fact, Freeman likely appreciated seeing Leonard come to work this week despite a lot of noise from outside the program.
“He put a lot of work into it,” Freeman explained. “It’s good to see him have success. He works his tail off and our offensive staff works their tail off. Our offensive line, wideouts and tight ends did a heck of a job blocking. Riley is going to get the credit because he’s the quarterback and had a lot of yards rushing. He’s going to get the blame when we don’t have success. That’s the life of being a quarterback.
“There are a lot of people who deserve credit for Riley’s performance, including Riley. I’m proud of him.”
Leonard made sure to give his offensive line credit as the group had their best performance of the year, despite losing starting center Ashton Craig and right guard Billy Schrauth.
“I could talk about them all day,” Leonard said. “Unreal. The culture in that room is something I wish everybody could see. This is a unit as an offensive line that goes everywhere together. They are constantly meeting with or without a coach. They’ll be in there - the last guys in the facility by themselves. Constructive criticism is their biggest thing. You come to practice, all the guys are getting on each other to work harder.”
The win was a statement for the program. Sure, a win over Purdue isn’t going to get Notre Dame back in the College Football Playoff race, but Notre Dame played to its standard and left no doubt on the field, which was extremely important for the program.
“I think it’s hard to put into words what this means to this program,” said Leonard. “This is who we are and who we believe we truly are. When all the pieces are clicking and it starts with me, whenever guys are clicking, I think we have a really good squad on our hands. We just can’t beat ourselves. We have to go into every single week like this week with our backs against the wall.”
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