Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard had his best statistical performance through the air this past Saturday when the Fighting Irish knocked off the Louisville Cardinals 31-24. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 163 yards with 2 touchdowns.

The Athletic’s Pete Sampson grabbed the quote from the “injured” one, and it wasn’t exactly that. Leonard told the press that he just got the wind knocked out of him, and needed a play to regroup. He said that “it was really no problem after a couple minutes. It really didn’t play an impact on me.”

When Riley Leonard transferred from Duke to Notre Dame, things did not go as planned. In a bit of ultimate Notre Dame irony, Leonard ended up missing almost all of Spring ball due to medical work being done to care for an injury the Irish created in 2023.