SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A question about Riley Leonard wafted at Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock earlier this week elicited a bit of a terse redirection.
“You have a running quarterback. How much can you run a guy?” was the query.
“We have a DUAL-THREAT quarterback,” Denbrock amended.
Heading into seventh-ranked Notre Dame’s primetime season opener at No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30 EDT; ABC-TV), it’s Denbrock’s mission to make the dual-threat adjective apparent to everybody, including the decision-makers in the personnel departments for NFL teams next spring.
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In the bigger picture, that means evolving Leonard’s passing numbers to match his physical skills — big arm, fast learner, seemingly peerless competitor, fast learner.
In the smaller picture — the A&M matchup — the running ability that helped Leonard pile up 699 rushing yards and 13 TDs in a healthy full season at Duke in 2022, and a 6.1 yards-per-carry average in an injury-truncated season last year is a huge potential counterpunch to how the Aggies defense may attack.
So, what might that look like from the number of carries standpoint?
“I don't know. What's the score?” Denbrock said. “Listen, you don't want to spend it all in the first couple series of the game or whatever. But some of that gets dictated by the flow of the game, quite frankly. It is what it is. You know what I mean? And it's hard to really know.”
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, though, knows how difficult it is to deal with Leonard on the run. Before transferring to ND in January, Leonard carried a career-high 18 times for 88 yards in the Blue Devils’ near-upset of the Irish on Sept. 30 before leaving late in that game with an ankle injury suffered on a sack by Irish All-American Howard Cross III.
“I think it starts with his size [6-4, 216],” Freeman said during a Thursday Zoom call with the media. “He is a physically impressive person … that can take a hit. We don't want him taking a lot of hits. We obviously want him to get down when he has a chance to get down, and limit the hits that a quarterback has to take.
“But he has speed. He has athleticism, and he's not afraid to run. He wants to run. He wants the ball in his hand. So, I think that's an added element to your offense.
“I don't want to see our quarterback running the ball every play, and that's not our plan. But to have the ability to have designed quarterback runs or truly read defenders with a quarterback that can pull it is something that's going to help our offense have success.”
Since becoming a full-time play-caller at Notre Dame in 2015, and carrying that over to his stints at Cincinnati (2017-21) and LSU (2022-23), Denbrock has had a true dual-threat quarterback all but 2017, and he’s been consistent in his opponent/game-flow-specific approach.
In 2015 sophomore DeShone Kizer came in for an injured Malik Zaire in game 2 of that season against Virginia, and made his first start, game 3, against Georgia Tech. His five carries against the Yellow Jackets represented the career low in his two years as an ND starter.
Kizer topped out at 17 carries in a 2015 win on the road against a nationally ranked Temple team, rushing for 143 yards and 2 TDs.
Desmond Ridder, a four-year starter at Cincinnati, got more runs early in his career and fluctuated between three and 13 as a senior, with much less overall usage.
Jayden Daniels’ highest carry total at Arizona State, before transferring to LSU after the 2021 season, was 19 carries and in his last game in a Sun Devils uniform.
In his first season in Denbrock’s offense (2022) he bounced between six and 23 carries. In his Heisman Trophy-winning 2023 campaign his range was between 5 and 15 and typically in double digits. In his two games against Texas A&M, admittedly against a different coaching staff, Daniels carried 12 times for 84 yards in 2022 and 11 times for 120 in 2023.
In Leonard’s healthy 2022 season at Duke, his fewest carries in a game were five. In comparison, ND’s 2023 starting quarterback — Sam Hartman — averaged fewer than four carries a game in Gerad Parker’s offense last season.
But Hartman, to this point, has been the more consistent college passer. He's now on the NFL practice squad of the Washington Commanders.
“His ability to learn has been really, really good,” Denbrock said of Leonard’s overall game. “He picks things up really fast. I think he's a guy who seeks details.
“He wants detailed information. He wants detailed feedback, whether that's positive or negative, so he can grow and learn as a player. So, I think it's his approach, more than anything, that's really, really impressive.”
Injury updates
The persistent rumors about All-American Howard Cross III’s status for Saturday night’s opener continue to get rebuffed by the Irish coaching staff, including by Freeman on Thursday.
Yes, the sixth-year grad senior nose guard is expected to start. No, there will be no “pitch count” on his snaps, Freeman assured. Cross was held out of some practices earlier in the month as a precautionary measure to deal with a cranky hamstring.
Meanwhile, Cross’ No. 1 understudy, senior Gabe Rubio, remains on schedule for a late September/early October return from a July 31 foot injury that required surgery.
In the interim, junior Donovan Hinish and senior Jason Onye make up the second wave of interior defensive linemen with Rubio out, and behind Cross and grad senior defensive tackle Rylie Mills. Sophomore Armel Mukam, though, has been a big surprise in the run-up to the season and has earned a spot in the rotation as well.
“Armel Mukam has really stepped up,” Freeman said. “He's one of the guys that from year one to year two, has done a really good job at physically developing, but also in terms of his production on the field. He's definitely improved tremendously and will be a guy that will have a chance to help us on the field starting this game.
“And so, we have a lot of confidence in that defensive tackle room, the depth of the room, even with Rubio being out for a month or so. But you know, we obviously want him back as soon as we can.”
• Freeman on Thursday announced season-ending shoulder surgeries for two freshmen who weren’t expected to dent the depth chart this season — safety Taebron Bennie-Powell and offensive tackle Styles Prescod.
Additionally, a third freshman — safety Tae Johnson — suffered a foot injury in the latter stages of training camp, but he is expected to return and contribute later this season.
Bennie Powell had surgery on his left shoulder labrum. Prescod’s surgery is impending and is for a right shoulder injury.
“You see it with a lot of freshmen, they have pre-existing injuries that probably started in high school,” Freeman said. “And when, all of a sudden, you get them here and their shoulder pops out or they have shoulder issues, you take an MRI and say, ‘OK, we have to make a decision. Do we fix it now and have them miss the season, but have them back for spring ball, which is so crucial for their development? Or do we wait until after the season?’
“And both of those guys, I don't know what the future would have been if they didn't get surgery, but I would say at the moment we felt like they were probably redshirt-potential guys. And we thought it was best to just get their shoulders fixed and have them back for spring ball.”
Johnson had surgery on the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.
Field presence
The recent introduction of the NCAA allowing iPads on the sidelines might make it easier for an assistant coach, particularly a coordinator, to choose a position on the sideline rather than the coaches box during games.
But ND offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and defensive coordinator Al Golden would have been on the sideline anyway, said Freeman, who will have only one full-time assistant coach in the box. That’s QBs coach Gino Guidugli. He’ll be accompanied by grad assistants and analysts.
“I think it all starts with the comfort,” Freeman said, “but also what the coordinators feel is best for them to do their job and to elevate the play of the offense. And when we were together at Cincinnati, Denbrock was on the field the majority of the years that we were together, and Gino was actually up.
“And so they have a comfort in terms of Denbrock being able to be on the field and see what he needs to see to call the game, to make the necessary changes and adjustments with the offense, but also having somebody upstairs that you have a level of comfort with that can give you feedback and see things you need to see as a coordinator.
“I was a [defensive] coordinator that was on the field for the majority of my career, but you have to have people up in the press box that can give you the information that you need. And, obviously, he feels comfortable with Gino, and coach Golden obviously feels comfortable with the guys that are up in the press box for the defense.”
Crowdsourcing
During Marcus Freeman’s junior and senior seasons alone as a linebacker at Ohio State, he played in five games in which ESPN’s College GameDay had set up shop on campus where those games were played, and in four with visiting crowds in excess of 93,000, including two that topped the 110,000-spectator threshold.
So what can Freeman — the coach, draw from Freeman — the player’s experiences for the six-figure crowd set to show up at Kyle Field on Saturday night?
“I think my mindset as a coach — and especially a head coach now — is so different than it was as a player, where I think any competitor — myself as a player, myself as a coach — enjoys these big environments, enjoys the big games, the primetime games.
“But I think as a coach, it's the ability to get your guys to focus on the things that matter, right? You've heard me say this before, but it [the field] is 120 by 53 1/3. And what you do within those white lines is all that really matters.
“We made sure to truly give our guys a feel for what the stadium will feel like, will be like. I wanted them to know exactly where our tunnel is, know what sideline we're on, where we're warming up, where their 12th man is. And I think it's important that we have a great idea of the environment that we're going into, so we're not surprised.
“We can talk about it being a big, rowdy crowd, but until you show them examples, and really until they get there, they won't truly understand that. So, we try to give them as much insight to what it's going to be like. But at the same point, once you do that, then you’ve got to get them to focus on the things that matter, and that's what you're doing between the white lines.”
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