Recently, Riley Leonard and the Notre Dame football program came up just short in the National Championship Game vs the Ohio State Buckeyes in Atlanta, Georgia. The Fighting Irish got behind the eight ball quickly, but Leonard led a valiant comeback attempt that made things much more interesting than anticipated down the stretch.

Leonard has since gone on to participate in the annual Senior Bowl, and as part of the festivities, he stopped by for an interview with the NFL Network, during which he spoke on his time learning from NFL greats Peyton and Eli Manning at their academy.

“The biggest takeaway that I took was how intention Peyton and Eli, who are all time quarterbacks, how intentional they took every single kid at that camp,” said Leonard. “…about 2,000 kids go to Thibodaux, Louisiana in the middle of the summer, hottest weekend of the year by far, and Peyton and Eli spend time with every single kid at that camp. They know every single water boy, water girl's name. These little details. They just care so much about people.”

A strong season for Notre Dame

American team quarterback Riley Leonard of Notre Dame (13) throws the ball during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

After an early season loss to Northern Illinois, it looked like the sky was falling for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who had just fallen victim to the biggest upset of the college football season and who had seen quarterback Leonard struggle mightily in that contest.

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However, under head coach Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame football was able to quickly put that setback behind them and flip the script on the 2024 season, ultimately winning out the remainder of their regular season schedule and securing a spot in the playoff.

When they got there, they easily dispatched Indiana in front of their home fans before winning a thriller vs Penn State in the Orange Bowl, setting up a matchup with Ohio State for the championship.

Notre Dame actually got off to a strong start to the big game, with Leonard leading a ten minute drive down the field that resulted in a touchdown to get things underway. However, things spiraled from there, as the Notre Dame defense was largely unable to contain Ohio State's high octane offense.

Still, the loss shouldn't take away from what was overall a successful season in South Bend.