Although they didn’t come out on top in Monday’s national championship game, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had a strong auxiliary fan group in Lower Alabama as the Fairhope community …
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Although they didn’t come out on top in Monday’s national championship game, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had a strong auxiliary fan group in Lower Alabama as the Fairhope community rallied behind former Pirate quarterback Riley Leonard.
Fans of all ages showed their support of the Baldwin County native and Fairhope alum in his pursuit of a national title. Young Pirates at Fairhope West Elementary School had a Go Riley Day and J. Larry Newton Elementary School, where Leonard’s mother Heather is a sixth-grade teacher, compiled a video of well-wishes before Monday’s big game.
“Fairhope. It means everything to me. I think back to the little kids who are in my shoes now growing up who are from a small town,” Leonard told Gulf Coast Media at the Sugar Bowl media day before the quarterfinal in New Orleans. “The support (the Fairhope community has) given me throughout my career has really been a driving factor in my decision making, getting me up and motivated every single day. And they’re unwavering. They’re a group that gameplay is irrelevant at that point. They care more about my character and if I’m being a role model for their children.”
Although Ohio State prevailed 34-23 to claim the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff National Championship, it was not before the Fairhope alum further etched his name in the Notre Dame record books.
With 40 rushing yards on 17 carries Monday night, Leonard pushed his season total to 906 rushing yards and moved past Tony Rice’s previous single-season quarterback rushing school record of 884 yards from 1989. With 17 rushing touchdowns and 21 passing touchdowns over 16 games this year, Leonard’s 226 points responsible for tied him with Everett Golson’s 2014 campaign for third all-time in a single season for the Irish.
Leonard helped Notre Dame set a single-season program record with 14 wins where half of them came over AP-ranked opponents, the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season.
With three years at Duke, Leonard finished his collegiate career with 7,311 passing yards on 651 completions with 45 touchdowns against 18 interceptions on top of 2,130 rushing yards with 36 touchdowns over 43 games.
While the Irish were unable to secure a 15th win on the season, the former Pirate standout explained, through visible emotion, how he went from being an underdog at a smaller school to a national-championship berth with one of the biggest brands in college football.
“I'll start with just the guys around me. It's very easy to be a successful quarterback when, first and foremost, your coaches are just setting you up for success. I've never been so prepared in my life. I've just learned so much within this past year,” Leonard said after Monday’s game before sharing his heartfelt appreciation of his teammates. “How could I not become a better player on the field? Then off the field, you can walk into that locker room and every single one of those people, you're going to leave impressed by, if you just had a simple conversation with them. The character of this place, it's kind of hard to describe. I think I've grown so much just because of the people around me.”
At the end of the day, Leonard said he knew the good guys were going to walk away with the trophy no matter what since athletes from both Notre Dame and Ohio State had been outspoken about their faith in Jesus through the season.
“I think, as I said throughout the week, us and Ohio State were the two teams who praised Jesus Christ the most, and I think that we strengthened each other in our faiths through coming to this game and competing against each other. I'm happy to see godly men come out on top no matter what the circumstance is,” Leonard said. “I'm very happy to praise Jesus in the lowest of lows, as well. I think as far as this program goes, we've learned a lot. We've been through ups and downs. I've been through ups and downs. I don't even recognize the person I was before I got to Notre Dame, and it's all credit to these guys beside me and everybody else in the locker room.”