Notre Dame Football: Marcus Freeman Gives Riley Leonard Health Update

Notre Dame transfer quarterback fully participated to open fall camp

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) who is hurt, dresses and throws some pre-game passes with fellow quarterbacks Saturday, April 20, 2024, at the annual Notre Dame Blue-Gold spring football game at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. / MANDATORY CREDIT GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

Notre Dame football fans and observers spent significant time this spring and summer wondering about the health of QB1.

By now you know the story - Riley Leonard transferred to Notre Dame from Duke at the conclusion of the 2023 season but his spring session was cut short due to some additional cleanups that were needed on his surgically repaired ankle from injuries sustained last season.

Leonard needed one of those cleanups this past spring which took away a good amount of his spring season and led to some worry.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman took a firehose of water to those worrisome flames following the team's first fall practice on Wednesday.

"He cut it loose the whole summer" said Freeman.

There wasn't a part where Freeman said that Leonard cut it loose for a bit and then had to take any extra time to recover or anything like that. Instead, Freeman was clear as day that Leonard was a full-go all summer and will be in fall camp.

That was something much of the nation noticed when Leonard took home top passing honors at the Manning Passing Academy last month.

When you put two and two together on that, although Freeman hasn't officially named Leonard the starting quarterback yet, those comments make it clear that it's just a matter of time until he does, and nothing else.

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