Riley Leonard: QB · Notre Dame · #13.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Riley Leonard
Extends plays on the move until something opens up. The four seasons span two programs and four head coaches: David Cutcliffe, Mike Elko, Trooper Taylor and Marcus Freeman. The first one came in 2022: ACC Quarterback Player of the Week. On tape: 255 passing yards and 40 rushing yards against Ohio State, Bowl, 2024.
Play style
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
65.2% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 14.6% conversion-per-dropback — 76.7% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
19 of 21 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (90.5%). 14 of the team's 35 inside-the-5 carries (40.0%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Yahoo Sports Oct 27Yahoo Sports Oct 18Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 269 | 403 | 66.7% | 2,861 | 7.1 | 21 | 8 | 139.6 | 61 |
| 2023 | Duke | 95 | 165 | 57.6% | 1,102 | 6.7 | 3 | 3 | 116.0 | 48 |
| 2022 | Duke | 250 | 391 | 63.9% | 2,967 | 7.6 | 20 | 6 | 141.5 | 58 |
| 2021 | Duke | 37 | 62 | 59.7% | 381 | 6.1 | 1 | 1 | 113.4 | -- |
| Career | 651 | 1,021 | 63.8% | 7,311 | 7.2 | 45 | 18 | 134.9 | 57 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 184 | 906 | 4.9 | 17 | 50 |
| 2023 | Duke | 58 | 352 | 6.1 | 4 | 44 |
| 2022 | Duke | 124 | 698 | 5.6 | 13 | 74 |
| 2021 | Duke | 47 | 173 | 3.7 | 2 | 35 |
| Career | 413 | 2,129 | 5.2 | 36 | 74 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 16 games
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| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-13@ No. 20 Texas A&M | 18/30 | 158 | 0 | 0 | 5.3 | 66.7 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 2 | L 14-16vs Northern Illinois | 20/32 | 163 | 0 | 2 | 5.1 | 25.8 | |
| Wk 3 | W 66-7@ Purdue | 11/16 | 112 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 93.8 | |
| Wk 4 | W 28-3vs Miami (OH) | 16/25 | 154 | 1 | 0 | 6.2 | 83.4 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-24vs No. 15 Louisville | 17/23 | 163 | 2 | 0 | 7.1 | 74.1 | |
| Wk 7 | W 49-7vs Stanford | 16/22 | 229 | 3 | 0 | 10.4 | 94.5 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 8 | W 31-13vs Georgia Tech | 20/29 | 203 | 0 | 1 | 7.0 | 71.5 | |
| Wk 9 | W 51-14vs No. 24 Navy | 13/21 | 178 | 2 | 0 | 8.5 | 90.0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 52-3vs Florida State | 14/27 | 215 | 1 | 0 | 8.0 | 87.5 | |
| Wk 12 | W 35-14vs Virginia | 22/33 | 214 | 3 | 1 | 6.5 | 50.0 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 13 | W 49-14vs No. 18 Army | 10/13 | 148 | 2 | 0 | 11.4 | 93.7 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-35@ USC | 17/22 | 155 | 2 | 1 | 7.0 | 84.0 | |
| Bowl | W 27-17vs No. 9 Indiana | 23/32 | 201 | 1 | 1 | 6.3 | 67.1 | |
 Bowl | W 23-10vs No. 2 Georgia | 15/24 | 90 | 1 | 0 | 3.8 | 70.9 | |
 Bowl | W 27-24vs No. 5 Penn State | 15/23 | 223 | 1 | 2 | 9.7 | 80.3 | |
 Bowl | L 23-34vs No. 6 Ohio State | 22/31 | 255 | 2 | 0 | 8.2 | 88.1 | |
| Total | 269/403 | 2861 | 21 | 8 | 7.1 | — |
Bowl · 2024
L 23-34
vs Ohio State · neutral site
255 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 88.1 · 40 rush yds (17 car) · 1 TD
With J. Rendell — 48.5 yards per punt · 2 punts · 51 long · J. Greathouse — 6 rec · 128 yds · 2 TD
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 375 passing plays (249 completions) against the box score's 403 attempts (269 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
6.8186 of 205 QBsSack rate
3.8%49 of 205 QBsRarely sacked (49 of 205 QBs) and still 86 of 205 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 66.7% completion on 403 attempts · 28 deep completions averaging 29.5 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2024 baseline
+68
percentile points better on third down or later
Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 16 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 191 | 1.6 | 7.1 | 0.6 |
| Road3g | 142 | 0.7 | 6.4 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-710g | 175 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 0.5 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 186 | 1.7 | 8.1 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
44.3%
442 pass / 555 run
Plays / game
62.3
16 games
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2024
403 pass attempts, 184 carries and 1 catch in 16 games, about as many passes and runs a game as a typical FBS quarterback who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #23 at the position.
How it ended
Four seasons, at Duke and Notre Dame, 7,311 passing yards — drafted at #189 overall by the Indianapolis Colts.
A stat line in 42 games over four seasons.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2021–2024
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: David Cutcliffe, Mike Elko and Marcus Freeman.
Next stop · NFL
Indianapolis ColtsEntering 2nd NFL season
Indianapolis ColtsEntering 2nd NFL season
