WATCH: Discussion on Notre Dame QBs Riley Leonard and Steve Angeli with Hyde and Singer
In a weekly YouTube live show, Blue & Gold’s Tim Hyde and Mike Singer discuss and react to the latest news and notes in the world of Notre Dame football and recruiting.
Much of the show was centered around the quarterback position following reports of Riley Leonard injuring his left shoulder against NIU. Hyde and Singer give their reaction, take questions from the live chat and discuss whether or not they would consider playing another signal-caller.
The show aired live on the Blue & Gold YouTube page Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Watch a replay of this week’s show in the video player above.
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What Notre Dame OC Mike Denbrock said about Riley Leonard
Briefly, a question Tuesday afternoon sent Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock into a small fit of laughter.
The reporter who asked it referenced Denbrock’s rhetoric that he believed a high-functioning offense would come down the road, but he didn’t know how far down the road. The question, then, was what did he see that led him to believe it’s closer than most think.
“It looks like a long and dusty trail right now,” Denbrock said, laughing.
The veteran offensive coordinator regained his composure and gave a blunt but truthful response.
“No, I mean, listen, there’s signs,” Denbrock said. “There’s just such incredible inconsistency across the board.”
Few places is that inconsistency more pronounced than at the quarterback position, where senior Riley Leonard has struggled through two games in a Notre Dame uniform. The first game, played in a “hornet’s nest” (Denbrock’s words) in College Station, Texas, against Texas A&M was forgivable — especially because the Irish won. The second, at home against Northern Illinois, was not.
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Leonard also took an awkward-looking hit at the end of the first half, appearing to favor his left shoulder. Denbrock did not call a designed run play for him from that point forward, despite the quarterback run game being an integral part of Notre Dame’s offense.
On3’s Pete Nakos and Blue & Gold reported that Leonard injured his posterior labrum on his non-throwing shoulder during the game, even though the Duke transfer was not listed on the team’s official injury report. He is, however, expected to play Saturday against Purdue.
Denbrock neither confirmed nor denied Leonard suffered an injury (injury updates come from either head coach Marcus Freeman or the public relations staff, no one else). But he said Leonard’s full arsenal of designed run plays will be available against the Boilermakers.
“I have no indication right now that he can’t be the runner we need him to be,” Denbrock said.
Denbrock also offered an explanation as to why Leonard rushed 7 times in the first quarter but only 4 times after that.
