Leonard named to Davey O’Brien Award watch list
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Senior quarterback Riley Leonard has been selected to the 2024 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Preseason Watch List. The award is presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback.
Notre Dame players have been finalists for the award on five occasions: Tony Rice in 1988 and 1989; Rick Mirer in 1992; and Brady Quinn in 2005 and 2006.
Already selected to the 2024 preseason watch lists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Maxwell Award, Leonard started all seven games in which he played for Duke in 2023, going 95-for-165 and 1,102 yards (57.5 percent completion rate) and three touchdowns. He rushed 58 times for 352 yards (44-yard long) and four touchdowns on the season.
In 2022, he started all 13 games for the Blue Devils, completing 250-of-392 (.638) passes for 2,967 yards with 20 touchdowns, while leading the team in rushing with 699 yards on 124 carries and 13 touchdowns. He was one of three FBS quarterbacks to amass more than 2,900 passing yards and 695 rushing yards, joining LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
The official Davey O’Brien Midseason Watch List will be released on Tuesday, Oct. 22, and will contain active quarterbacks from the Preseason Watch List, players honored as weekly Great 8 recipients through the season’s first eight weeks and any additional quarterbacks approved by the selection subcommittee.
The Midseason Watch List will be cut down to the 35-player Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2024 on Tuesday, Oct. 29. For the fourth straight year, fan voting on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) will earn players bonus selection committee votes during the semifinalist, finalist and winner voting rounds. First-round fan voting will begin Oct. 29 following the QB Class announcement.
The list of semifinalists selected from the QB Class will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The Foundation will announce the three finalists two weeks later (Tuesday, Nov. 26). The 2024 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be unveiled live on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 12, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
