Riley Leonard was one of the first quarterbacks Ohio State reached out to when it began its search for a new starter in the transfer portal last offseason. Now, Ohio State is set to face off against Leonard in the national championship game.
While Leonard was one of Ohio State’s top choices to replace Kyle McCord as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback for the 2024 season, the former Duke quarterback chose to transfer to Notre Dame instead. That worked out just fine for Ohio State in the end as the Buckeyes ended up signing Kansas State transfer Will Howard, who’s on the verge of breaking Ohio State’s single-season completion percentage record if he has an efficient game on Monday.
But Leonard and the Fighting Irish now stand in Ohio State’s way of winning the national title. And the reasons why Ryan Day was interested in Leonard a year ago are the same reasons why he’ll present a challenge to the Buckeyes’ defense in the final game of the season.
“He's somebody that I've respected from afar and just the way that he competes. And he's a great athlete. He's got a great mindset. And watching him play this year and the toughness and leadership that he brings, you can tell the offense and the entire team feeds off of him,” Day said. “So a lot of respect for his game.”
There are numerous similarities between Leonard and Howard, starting with the fact that both were multi-year starters at other Power 4 schools before transferring to the teams they’ve now led to the national championship game. Both of them have drawn considerable praise for the leadership they’ve brought to their respective teams, and they share similar personalities through which they both exude considerable confidence publicly.
Howard and Leonard were even roommates – yes, there’s a roommate storyline you’ll hear about during this game, too – at the Manning Passing Academy this past summer, and both said Wednesday that they hold each other in high regard.
“We probably wouldn't have imagined that, you know, a couple months later, here we are, playing for the national championship for two new schools. But it is pretty cool, man,” Howard said. “He's a great guy. Somebody I have a lot of respect for. Not just the player he is, but the man and the man of faith that he is. Got a lot of respect for him, man. And I'm excited to get out there and duke it out with him.”
Leonard hasn’t been as prolific of a passer for Notre Dame as Howard has been for Ohio State this year. While Howard has completed 72.6% of his passing attempts for 3,779 yards and 33 touchdowns with 10 interceptions, Leonard has completed 66.4% of his passing attempts for 2,606 yards and 19 touchdowns with eight interceptions. Leonard ranks just 94th in the FBS with 173.7 passing yards per game and 58th in passer rating (137.8) with an average of only seven passing yards per attempt that ranks 87th in the nation.
Even so, Leonard has done enough to lead Notre Dame to victory in every game but one this season – the Fighting Irish’s infamous loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 – so Ohio State won’t be taking the threat of playing him lightly.
“Great quarterback who is an incredible competitor,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “I know him from Duke (where Knowles was the defensive coordinator from 2010-17). He came in after me, but the way everybody talked about him there, he's a guy that he'll scrape himself off the ground and keep playing. He's just going to keep coming at you, and he's tough and he's fast.”
As dominant as Ohio State’s defense has been, one area in which it has shown some vulnerability is defending running quarterbacks, and Leonard has been one of the best running quarterbacks in the country this season. His 866 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns are both the sixth-highest totals among FBS quarterbacks this season, and his 167 rushing attempts for the season include 25 runs of 10 yards or more.
Pairing Leonard’s rushing ability with an excellent stable of running backs led by Jeremiyah Love (1,122 yards, 17 TD on 159 carries) and Jadarian Price (733 yards, 7 TD on 117 carries), Notre Dame’s rushing offense ranks fourth in the country with 5.83 yards per carry. Ohio State’s run defense has been dominant in the CFP, limiting Oregon and Texas to a combined net total of 35 rushing yards, but it will face what might be its toughest test of the season against Notre Dame – and the need to account for Leonard’s running threat on every single play is a big reason why.
“It adds a whole nother dimension to the game,” said Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. “Obviously, when you have a quarterback running the ball, it adds an extra hat in the box or an extra blocker. So it kinda messes with the defense sometimes. Sometimes you might have to bring an extra hat into the box to match that. So it can be a little tricky sometimes.”
Styles said the Buckeyes have to be prepared for the possibility of Leonard running in every situation, as the Fighting Irish have shown they’ll call running plays for their quarterback in crucial downs while he’s also a threat to take off and scramble on passing plays. And Styles believes Leonard’s playmaking ability fuels the entire ND offense.
“You see a lot of times on like 4th-and-1s, 4th-and-2s, 3rd-and-3s, 3rd-and-6s, they give him the ball,” Styles said. “I think that's their guy. I think he's a great competitor. He's a great leader. I think the offense feeds off of him.”
Styles’ older brother Lorenzo Styles Jr., a former Notre Dame wide receiver who is now an Ohio State cornerback, also views Leonard’s dual-threat skill set and leadership as a big reason for the Fighting Irish’s success this season.
“He can run the ball for sure. I think his physicality, his athleticism, his toughness shows up on the tape. There's going to be a lot of plus-one runs, which makes it hard, extra hat in the box, have to defend that. But I think he's a big leader on that team, not saying the other quarterbacks weren't, but he's really a driving force for that offense to go,” the elder Styles said.
“He's a guy that he'll scrape himself off the ground and keep playing. He's just going to keep coming at you, and he's tough and he's fast.”– Ohio State DC Jim Knowles on Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard
The good news for Ohio State is that its defense has been battle-tested against plenty of excellent quarterbacks on its run to the national championship game, including another running threat in Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, another dual-threat veteran transfer in Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and a dynamic passer in Texas’ Quinn Ewers. And the Buckeyes have their own veteran quarterback on their side – one who was initially seen as a consolation prize after the Buckeyes missed out on Leonard, but has proven to be much more than that – in Howard, whose competitiveness, leadership and dual-threat playmaking ability is also a big reason why his team is playing for a national championship on Monday.
“Will brings so many great things to the table, and his leadership is at the forefront of it all,” Day said of Howard. “I know in a short period of time, he's had a huge impact on Ohio State. And I know he wants to finish this thing the right way. Because we've also had an impact on him and our program. So I think that part has been a great marriage back and forth. So yeah, I know he's really focused on this game. He's already jumped into the game plan and he's excited about playing this one.”
