The best quarterback in the ACC besides Drake Maye? Why it may not be who you think

The late November duel between these two quarterbacks and two 7-4 teams had come down to this.

Two minutes and 57 seconds remaining.

Duke trailing star QB Sam Hartman and Wake Forest, 31-27.

The Blue Devils 65 yards away from a go-ahead touchdown and needing quarterback Riley Leonard to deliver in a big-time, high-pressure moment.

He did.

All it took was 53 seconds. A 15-yard defensive penalty was followed by a Leonard 30-yard completion to the Wake Forest 20-yard line. Then, touchdown. 

The 20-yard scoring pass from Leonard, his fourth TD pass of the game, proved to be the decisive score in one of the Blue Devils’ signature wins of Mike Elko’s 9-4 first season as Duke’s head coach.

In the win, and throughout the Blue Devils’ jump from 3-9 in 2021 to their highest win total since 2014, Leonard was a primary catalyst. Yet, on a national level, Leonard is still very much unheralded and under-appreciated compared to other top quarterbacks. Expect that to change soon.

Even with Florida State having Jordan Travis, Miami having Tyler Van Dyke and Clemson having Cade Klubnik, it’s actually this former three-star recruit from Fairhope, Alabama that many ACC staffers and NFL scouts believe to be the best quarterback in the ACC not named Drake Maye.

“I love him,” an ACC team official told On3 of the 6-foot-4, 207-pound Leonard. “He’s got ideal size and frame. He’s extremely athletic and can run. He’s got a basketball background and was recruited for basketball. He was a freak-show basketball player.  He could play somewhere easy with basketball. Dunk. Explosive. And when he gets in the open field, he can haul a—. And then he’s gotten progressively better each year throwing the ball. Looks like he knows where he’s going with the ball and can make all the throws. I think he’s got a high upside.”

Four years ago, four years before ultimately rewarding him with a new $160 million contract, the New York Giants selected Duke QB Daniel Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

Now, the Blue Devils have another high-end talent and potential early-round draft pick at QB.

After making one start as a freshman in 2021, Leonard became Duke’s starting quarterback last year. He finished the season with 2,967 passing yards, 699 rushing yards, 33 total touchdowns (20 passing, 13 rushing) and just six interceptions.

Leonard was the only ACC to accumulate more than 31 total touchdowns and fewer than seven interceptions. His rushing yardage, meanwhile, ranked fourth-best nationally among quarterbacks.

“I think he’s an elite competitor,” Duke head coach Mike Elko told On3. “I think he has that moxie that you look for in winning quarterbacks. I think he rises to the occasion whenever it’s necessary. It’s been really cool to see him develop as a passer, understanding the game more, even to some degree as a leader stepping into himself. Last year, he was competing for a starting position. This year, he’s the clear leader of our offense. Seeing that transition has been really cool.”

Even though he’s just a true junior with two years of eligibility remaining, Leonard is already on the radar for NFL personnel as an intriguing, potential early-round prospect for the 2024 NFL draft.

Several NFL scouting sources have told On3 that they already have Leonard with grades in the top three rounds.

In comparison, some other draft-eligible ACC QBs such as Travis and Van Dyke are more so regarded as being Day 3 type prospects at this point.

“I think this guy’s actually really good,” an NFL scouting source told On3 of Leonard. “He’s kind of a sleeper that’s not really talked about in internet circles, but I would probably, if you asked me who I’d rather have right now, I’d rather have him over a lot of the guys underneath Caleb (Williams) and Drake (Maye).”

In a matchup between Leonard and Maye last October, Leonard threw for 245 yards, ran for another 130 yards and accounted for two touchdowns. He helped the Blue Devils erase a 10-point second half deficit and had Duke leading 38-35 and in position for a win before a game-winning TD pass from Maye with just 16 seconds remaining.

Nevertheless, Leonard then followed that by guiding the Blue Devils to victories in five of their last six games, including a Military Bowl win over UCF. In those final six games, Leonard accounted for 19 total touchdowns (11 passing, eight rushing) with only two interceptions.

It was a strong finish — and a preview to a potentially even bigger breakout in 2023 — that went well beyond just the 406 yard, four TD performance against Hartman and Wake Forest. 

“I think another thing about Riley is he has such a high upside because he hasn’t been one of those purebred quarterbacks his whole life,” Elko said. “He was a multi-sport kid. He wasn’t really on the Elite 11 circuit. He wasn’t in the quarterback training his whole life. A lot of that started for him in the middle of his high school career. … So I just think there’s a ton of room for growth as you watch him going into this year.”