Riley Leonard after Orange Bowl win: 'I came here to win a national championship'

Riley Leonard only wanted one thing when he transferred to Notre Dame: to win a national championship.

After spending most of his college career with Duke, Leonard used his final season wisely. When he committed to Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman, he had titles on his mind.

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Well, he’s one game away from fulfilling that promise to himself as Notre Dame will play Ohio State for the College Football Playoff national championship.

“Yeah, throughout this whole off-season everybody would ask me why I came to Notre Dame and I would give a lot of different answers, but the truth is I came here to win a National Championship and to go to the best team that would give me the best chance to do that,” Leonard said. Obviously this is the right place and I made the right decision. That’s why I came here, at the end of the day.”

Leonard was humble at the end of the Orange Bowl, saying his teammates elevated him in the win because he wasn’t at his best.

He finished the game 15-of-23 passing for 223 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 35 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

But you simply can’t deny Leonard’s grit.

“I think any competitor wants to be a part of a place that the expectations are to win championships,” Freeman said postgame. “We all had a decision to make when we chose Notre Dame as the place we want to either coach or play at.

“But there’s more to this place than that, too. We know every year we compete. The expectation is to win championships. But there’s more to this university and what it provides for young people. It’s a special place that young people get to grow in their faith, they get to grow in community, they get to make connections that are going to help them for the rest of their lives.”

Leonard’s expectation was to win a title and Notre Dame is one win away. That’s simply the standard moving forward.

“Every football season this is the expectation,” Freeman said. “Although we haven’t achieved it. But there’s also a lot of things that this university does for these young people that will carry them throughout the rest of their lives.”