Projected Notre Dame Starting Quarterback Undergoes Another Surgery

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish landed Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard this offseason, who is supposed to be the team's starting quarterback by the time next fall rolls around.

Because the Fighting Irish expects Leonard to be the starting signal-caller, they want to maximize the number of reps he gets in spring football, a prime time for him to develop his game while building relationships with his new teammates. 

Unfortunately, Leonard has yet to fully recover from a lingering ankle injury from the 2023 college football season, an injury that impacted his final season with the Blue Devils.

The plan for spring football was to have Leonard as a full participant as he underwent initial surgery for the injury in January. Now, he's going to have to miss more time after having undergone a second surgery for his ankle. 

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman expects Leonard to be sidelined for "multiple weeks," though he didn't rule out any return to spring football. The news comes as the Fighting Irish have April 20 penciled in as the date for their spring football game, something they certainly want Leonard healthy for.

This offseason, Leonard was one of the top transfer portal players, and being a quarterback had his phone buzzing with interest. Evidently, he chose to join Notre Dame as Sam Hartman ran out of eligibility and is headed to play pro football.

The Fighting Irish are building off a 10-3 season, which they did with a transfer quarterback. Now, Hartman's main focus is to ensure long-term health so he will be good to go for Notre Dame's tough 2024 college football schedule.