The Notre Dame football team has been one of the most injury-riddled squads in the College Football Playoffs. But up until tonight the one position they haven’t needed to worry about health wise was quarterback. And then Riley Leonard went down with a potential concussion.
Late in the first half, Leonard went down hard and looked like he bounced his head off the turf. He was forced to leave the game after iniitially looking like he wanted to stay in and hasn’t returned. Running into the locker room at halftime, head coach Marcus Freeman said he didn’t have an update. That’s … not great.
In the meantime, Notre Dame football turned to backup Steve Angeli, who did lead a drive down the field that allowed the Irish to score their first points on a Mitch Jeter field goal. Being down 10-3 and getting the ball back to start the second half lends a little optimism to what has been a pretty dark first half.
Notre Dame football likely to lean on Steve Angeli
On the other hand, Riley Leonard has emerged from the locker room and is tossing warmup passes as the team gets ready for the second half.
The situation seems to be pretty touch and go. Clearly, Notre Dame football wants it starting quarterback down the stretch. But if he looks shaky at all, even if he passed the concussion protocol, there might be a temptation to let him rest and see what Angeli brings.
All eyes will be on the Notre Dame football team’s quarterback one way or another.