Riley Leonard, QB, Notre Dame
Size:
Height: 6036
Weight: 216
Arm: 31 ⅝”
Hand: 9 ½”
Accomplishments:
Comeback Player of the Year Award Semifinalist (2024) • All-ACC Honorable Mention (2022)
“Riley Leonard displays dual-threat upside with accurate touch passes outside the numbers to take advantage of one-on-one situations with the prototypical build for an NFL QB.”
Strengths:
Athletic
Touch pass accuracy
Pocket management
Calm command of the offense
Rushing upside
Concerns:
Lower-half mechanics
Heavy feet
Arm strength
Consistency
Film Analysis:
Riley Leonard was a three-sport athlete in high school, lettering in football, basketball, and track. He committed to Duke University as a three-star recruit and broke out as a sophomore starter. He racked up nearly 3,000 passing yards and 20 touchdowns with only six interceptions while adding almost 700 yards rushing with 13 touchdowns. Expectations were high for Leonard entering his junior year at Duke. However, his season was cut down due to ankle and toe injuries, which saw him start seven games for the Blue Devils. He would enter the transfer portal and enroll at Notre Dame for his senior year, leading the Fighting Irish into the College Football Playoff behind an 11-1 season.
Leonard’s size and athleticism are apparent at quarterback, as shown by his long lower half and galloping strides to take advantage of rushing lanes. It aids him in the pocket as well, where he can make rushers miss in tight quarters and evade pressure to make a play with his legs or arm. Applicable in the red zone, Leonard’s legs added 14 rushing touchdowns as Notre Dame’s signal-caller. He moves like a tight end with the ball in his hands and can be challenging to bring down for opposing defenses with his contact balance and toughness.
As a passer, Leonard operated primarily out of shotgun while at Notre Dame, which limits the depth of dropbacks post-snap. He shows calm command of the offense while confidently setting up protections and changing the play at the line of scrimmage. His footwork in dropbacks needs to be more consistent and can be too heavy, throwing off the timing of throws and passing concepts. It also contributes to sporadic accuracy from the pocket with his inconsistent lower-half mechanics tied to coming over the football on throws that die into the ground. But when his timing and drop-back feet are quick and crisp, he makes accurate and clean throws to all intermediate and short areas of the field while flashing anticipation tendencies.
Leonard manages pressure well when his feet are right. By stepping up or out, Leonard can access open field areas on the move and deliver the football to the open man. He’s given full-field reads and routinely goes through his progressions. Leonard has average arm strength but throws the ball downfield with the right amount of touch at a high clip. It allows receivers to adjust to the ball on back-shoulder throws and in the endzone with relative ease. He’s also shown the ability to change his throwing angle to complete the throw. He doesn’t put the ball in harm's way at a high clip, which also results in fewer high-caliber throws into tight windows or down the field. Leonard threw the ball 20 yards or more downfield only 34 times on the season and didn’t look comfortable airing it out.
Leonard’s athleticism and dual-threat ability will translate well to a diverse run game that allows him to take advantage of overly aggressive defenses, and his operation of the quick game and command at the line of scrimmage give him a safe floor for NFL teams. However, his lower-half mechanics, inconsistent footwork, and timing need work if he’s going to raise his ceiling as a quarterback.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Adequate Starter
Written By: Daniel Harms
Exposures: USC (2024) Texas A&M (2024), Georgia Tech (2024), Florida State (2024)
