Marcus Freeman believes Duke QB Riley Leonard will be Notre Dame's biggest challenge yet

Notre Dame has to quickly turn the page to Duke and Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard has Marcus Freeman’s attention.

The No. 11 Fighting Irish hit the road to play No. 17 Duke and Leonard, who have really impressed the nation so far this season. Leonard is accurately throwing the football and has yet to turn it over this season.

Freeman called it Notre Dame’s biggest challenge yet.

“He is a talented individual,” Freeman said. “Obviously all offenses go through the quarterback but the things he presents in the run game, the challenges he’s going to present, he’s a big physical tough runner. He’s accurate in the pass game from what they need him to do, you know, and so it’s a huge challenge for our team. Biggest one yet.”

So far this season, Leonard has 778 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 67.7% completion percentage. On the ground, he has 238 yards and four touchdowns, making him pretty dynamic.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Leonard was a three-star recruit out of Fairhope (Ala.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 21 overall prospect in the state, the No. 41 quarterback in the class and the No. 554 overall prospect in the class.

Riley Leonard a challenge for Notre Dame in Week 5

Duke remained perfect with a win over UConn Saturday. But Notre Dame will be a challenge for the Blue Devils and Leonard, despite Freeman’s praise of the quarterback.

“Offensively I thought we were kind of a little bit sluggish in the run game, which we knew was going to be the case,” head coach Mike Elko said after the win. “We knew that they had a really talented front six and I wish we would have been able to step up to that challenge a bit better, but we knew we had to execute in the pass game as well.

“We were able to finish some drives early for touchdowns and that was a critical turning point tonight.” 

That’s all well and good, but Leonard and the offense have to be focused for a big game against the Fighting Irish.

“Now we turn the page and get into the meat of this season with a big challenge that we are going to have to take head on,” Elko said.