After Notre Dame's offense struggled so mightily against Northern Illinois, the question must be asked: Is Riley Leonard the best option? Senior football writer, Liam Farrell, weighs the options.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
On the heels of Notre Dame's most disappointing loss in recent memory, the Fighting Irish have far more questions than answers.
At the forefront of everyone's mind is Marcus Freeman, and whether he has the ability to succeed as a championship-level head coach.
As the Notre Dame fans criticize Freeman harshly, Riley Leonard becomes the next target for blame. Leonard, who was brought in to finally solve the quarterback woes that have plagued South Bend, seems to have regressed since arriving on campus.
After two games, Leonard has yet to record a passing touchdown, placing Notre Dame alongside Northwestern, Western Michigan, Air Force, and Miami OH as the only schools still without one.
This year, Leonard has only thrown for 321 yards while adding 2 interceptions, and only carries a 61.3 completion percentage. Simply put, Leonard's performance hasn't been cutting it.
Leonard's lackluster performance has led fans to question whether to stick with the experienced transfer or explore other options. That question was answered earlier today, with the release of the newest depth chart. Leonard will indeed start against Purdue on Saturday.
Notre Dame's current situation reminds me of the predicament Alabama had last year. After a devastating loss to Texas, Tommy Rees and Nick Saban chose to sit starting quarterback Jalen Milroe in their game against USF.
Now Notre Dame walk-on wide receiver, Tyler Buchner, earned the start but was benched for Ty Simpson at halftime. Both quarterbacks struggled mightily in their chance, but did enough to beat the South Florida Bulls. After this game, Milroe was given the starting nod back and resurrected the Crimson Tide offense, leading to a college football playoff berth.
This could be an option for Marcus Freeman should Leonard's play continue to be lackluster. Show Leonard that his spot isn't guaranteed, and that he needs to redevelop the coaching staff's trust within him as a player.
Another situation that seems relevant is what is occurring with Nebraska and Dylan Raiola. Nebraska had an extreme recruiting win, flipping Raiola from Georgia, but instead of nursing him into the bright lights in Lincoln, they simply handed him the keys. Head coach Matt Rhule basically said, "we brought you here for a reason. Go lead this football team."
Given Freeman's trust and admiration for CJ Carr, he could have done the same. Freeman didn't need to bring in a transfer quarterback, but he did, and things clearly aren't working. Why not show faith in Carr by naming him the leader of the football team?
If choosing Carr is too extreme and costly—since the Irish likely want him to maintain his redshirt status—why not turn to Steve Angeli or Kenny Minchey? Angeli displayed in the bowl game last year that he can manage the game and making quick, accurate throws. As for Minchey, Freeman described him as a gunslinger, which is an explosive downfield passing threat this offense is missing.
Ultimately, whichever path the coaching staff takes, a change needs to be made. Everyone can point fingers at Freeman or Leonard, but until offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock revitalizes Notre Dame's offense, progress will be halted.
Despite some first-half coverage mistakes, Notre Dame's defense played exceptionally well. Al Golden is worth every penny that the administration gave him; however, Denbrock and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli need to find a way to elevate the quarterback play.
The College Football Playoff is still within reach for the Fighting Irish, but perfection is now required.
This could be a repeat of 2018 where the coaching staff replaced Brandon Wimbush for Ian Book. Wimbush, the far more explosive but unpolished passer, won his first three games of the season. But the offense sputtered until the more accurate, game managing quarterback in Ian Book, led the Irish to an undefeated regular season. Is that this year's version of Leonard and Angeli? Can Leonard figure it out? Could Mike Denbrock simplify his reads for these quarterbacks?
All we can do is wait and find out.
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The offensive scheme was too predictable and the O line was really beaten ! The QB was awful!