Riley Leonard to miss multiple weeks of spring practice due to ankle surgery

Riley Leonard is set to miss time during spring practice after undergoing another surgery on his ankle, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman told reporters on Saturday. He also missed time during winter workouts after a previous operation.

Leonard suffered a high-ankle sprain last year while at Duke, which occurred on the final play against Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish mounted a comeback. His surgery in January was on the same ankle, and the expectation was he would be ready for spring ball.

After this latest surgery, though, Freeman said he’s not ready to entirely rule Leonard out for spring practice. However, it’ll be “a few weeks,” at the least.

“Riley Leonard will be out the next few weeks due to an additional surgery he had on his ankle on Friday – so, yesterday – to address a stress fracture that was beginning to develop,” Freeman said. “Basically, the surgery was to exchange the current plate he had in his ankle with a new one. The doctors are doing extremely well. The overall prognosis and health of his ankle is excellent. We’ll see when he can get back.

“We’re not putting a timetable. We know it’s gonna be a few weeks, but we’re not saying he’s out for the spring. There could be a chance he comes back and participates in some capacity during spring ball.”

More on Riley Leonard’s arrival at Notre Dame, previous ankle surgeries

When Leonard suffered the high ankle sprain during the season, the belief is he underwent a tightrope ankle surgery similar to the one Tua Tagovailoa had while at Alabama and that Brock Bowers had at Georgia this past season.

Leonard was Notre Dame’s biggest transfer portal addition this offseason, coming in as the heir apparent to Sam Hartman. The hope is he’s the focal point of the new-look offense, now run by coordinator Mike Denbrock after Gerad Parker left to take over as the head coach at Troy.

Leonard arrived in South Bend as the No. 15 overall player and the No. 4-ranked quarterback from the 2024 portal cycle, according to the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings. In seven games at Duke in 2023, he threw for 1,102 yards and three touchdowns while adding 352 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

During a breakout 2022 season, though, Leonard put himself on the map. He threw for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns in the air and had 699 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground to help Duke to a 9-4 record in Year 1 under Mike Elko.