Notebook: Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard back to 100%, ready to play catch-up
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman is still not certain of all that went on when Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard dragged a handful of his teammates home to Fairhope, Ala., recently for some informal between-terms workouts with former NFL QB Philip Rivers.
The third-year Irish head football coach just knows the status of Leonard’s twice-surgically repaired ankle isn’t one of the unknowns anymore.
“I talked to him yesterday, actually,” Freeman told a small group of ND beat media Friday at Notre Dame Stadium. “He’s on his way back and says he feels great and he’s ready to go. He’ll be full-go when he gets back and [is] progressing toward the season.”
And ready to duel junior Steve Angeli for the No. 1 quarterback job.
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That competition starts formally on July 31 — the first day of training camp — and informally on Sunday, when veterans report back to Notre Dame for summer workouts and summer school. Eight first-time-enrolling freshmen are due the following Sunday.
Also showing up Sunday, for the Irish Invasion Camp, is future Notre Dame QB Deuce Knight, a verbally committed recruit in the 2025 Irish class. Knight, from Lucedale, Miss., joined Leonard, ND freshman QB CJ Carr and a group of Irish wide receivers that included Jayden Thomas, Jaden Greathouse, Deion Colzie and Kris Mitchell.
Rivers retired from the NFL after the 2020 season, having logged 17 seasons in the league — eight of them Pro Bowl years. He’s heading into his fourth season as the head football coach at St. Michael Catholic School in Fairhope.
Leonard, meanwhile, starred at Fairhope High before playing his first three seasons of college football at Duke.
Leonard suffered a right ankle injury during that third season, ironically, against Notre Dame on Sept. 30 in a 21-14 Irish win in Durham, N.C. He had TightRope surgery in January shortly after enrolling at ND, and had another procedure in March after a plate inserted during the January operation had started to cause a stress fracture.
That caused Leonard to be unable to fully participate in most of Notre Dame’s 15 spring practice sessions.
So now he’s playing catch-up, including the sessions with Rivers.
“That’s something that he facilitated himself,” Freeman said. “And I’m just happy to hear that he had some of our guys down there. And again, that chemistry is so important between the quarterback and wideouts. That’s definitely something that’s going to make us better.”
Thunder from Down Under
The desire by Freeman to have an Australian punter on the Notre Dame roster was a long time in the making. So when incumbent and American-born Bryce McFerson elected to transfer to Maryland this spring and after his sophomore season, the Irish head coach knew just where he wanted to look.
And he came up with James Rendell, a now 24-year-old recruit — as opposed to a transfer — whose eligibility beyond the 2024 season at ND is still being worked out.
“Basically, in my time in Cincinnati [before coming to ND], we had an Australian punter,” Freeman said. “And that’s something that’s always intrigued me. We had Bryce here when I became the head coach, but the thought of having an Aussie-type punter is something that I always wanted to get to.
“And when Bryce decided to leave, we had a connection with some of the Australian rugby punting coaches. And we kind of reached out to them. And we said, ‘Hey, is there anybody that might want to transfer? Anybody that’s a really good recruit that you would suggest?’”
Rendell was the top recommendation. And Freeman sent special teams coordinator Marty Biagi to Australia in April to evaluate Rendell in person.
The 6-foot-6, 225-pounder started preparing for an American football career by working with Prokick Australia. The organization trains punters with the goal of connecting them to colleges in the United States.
The last two winners of the Ray Guy Award, given to the top punter in college football, have been Australians who once worked with Prokick Australia: Rutgers' Adam Korsak (2022) and Iowa's Tory Taylor (2023). Previous winners Tom Hornsey (2013), Tom Hackett (2014-15), Mitch Wishnowsky (2016), Michael Dickson (2017) and Max Duffy (2019) had Prokick Australia training on their résumés.
Rendell committed to the Irish on May 1.
“I was pleased with what I saw on film,” Freeman said, “and he wanted to come to Notre Dame. It all happened really fast. He just arrived yesterday, the day before — for his official visit. And so, that’s kind of how it all unfolded.
“He is a recruit, but he has one guaranteed year to play. Possibly he’s got some other waivers that he’s going to try to submit to get more years to play. So, it’s a little bit up in the air as to how many years he’ll have.”
Tight End U getting back to full strength
Maybe Notre Dame will have six healthy tight ends on the roster after all this fall. Things are moving in that direction anyway.
Senior Mitchell Evans, last year’s starter, and grad senior Kevin Bauman are both on track to be 100% cleared by the time Notre Dame opens training camp on July 31. The Irish open the 2024 season a month later, on Aug. 31, at Texas A&M.
Both players suffered ACL tears — Bauman in August, his third injury to consume most or an entire season, and Evans in an Oct. 31 win over Pittsburgh.
“They’re not 100% cleared for summer,” Freeman said. “Kevin is a little bit ahead of Mitch, just because his surgery was before his, but they should all be ready for fall camp.”
They’ll join a stable of junior Eli Raridon, sophomore Cooper Flanagan, freshman Jack Larsen and former walk-on Davis Sherwood, a senior. Evans was Notre Dame’s leader in receptions among all positions with 29 for 422 yards and a TD in eight games.
On second thought
Sixth-year grad senior Devyn Ford’s flip to playing safety has ended and he’s moving back to running back, Freeman said Friday, to bolster the numbers in the running back room.
The move is being made because of junior Gi’Bran Payne’s ACL tear, suffered in the Blue-Gold Game to conclude spring practice on April 20. Freeman said Payne had surgery a week or two later.
A statement from the football program on Thursday declared ND’s fourth-leading rusher in 2023 out for the season, but Freeman walked that back a bit on Friday.
“It was a clean tear,” Freeman said. “[Head trainer] Rob Hunt is really optimistic and pleased with what we heard from the surgeons about the surgery. Usually, you tear your ACL in April, I’m coming in and saying he’s out for the season. But I don’t know. [Hunt] was very pleased with the surgery. It was just a clean ACL tear, not other structural damage. So, it’s at least a six-month recovery-plus. But I’m not ready to say he’s out for the season.”
Payne's extended subtraction from the depth chart and Ford’s addition gives ND five running backs — sophomore Jeremiyah Love, junior Jadarian Price, Ford, and freshmen Aneyas Williams and Kedren Young, both of whom enrolled early. But only Williams fully participated in spring practice, due to a nagging hamstring injury suffered by Young.
“We did move Devyn Ford back to running back, just to help with the depth in that room,” Freeman said. “But I’m confident in the freshmen. Aneyas had a really good spring and you wish you got to see more of Kedren. But I just believe Kedren brings a skill set that some of the other guys in that room probably don’t have. He’s that big, thick, powerful runner (6-foot, 229).
“We haven’t seen it in person. I’ve seen it in high school. You can see him physically — he looks like that. But I think he’ll bring that powerful element to that running back room.”
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