Top 25 most important Notre Dame football players of 2024: No. 1

Surprise, surprise. Quarterback Riley Leonard is officially the most important Notre Dame football player of 2024 according to a panel of five Blue & Gold staff members.

Here’s why.

Why Leonard is No. 1

The answer is obvious. Leonard is a dual-threat player at the most important position in the sport like Notre Dame has not had in quite some time. He accounted for 3,666 total yards and 33 total touchdowns for Duke in 2022, one of the best Blue Devils seasons ever on record. The last time a Notre Dame quarterback had at least that many passing plus rushing yards in a single season? Everett Golson had 3,728 in 2014.

It’s been a decade.

The bottom line is Leonard has the potential to do something that’s rarely been done at Notre Dame in the modern era. He can be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. The same was said for Sam Hartman a year ago, but this feels different. Mike Denbrock is the offensive coordinator. The Irish have 11 scholarship wide receivers, three of which came in from other programs via the transfer portal. Mitchell Evans is a proven in-game pass-catcher at tight end. He wasn’t 365 days ago.

So much seems to be playing out in Leonard’s favor in the preseason. Of course, he needs his ankle to adhere to the same sort of optimistic stance. If it does, and if the Notre Dame offensive line in front of him holds up, Leonard has so much potential in 2024. That’s why he’s Notre Dame’s most important player of the year going into it.

What a successful season would look like for Leonard

Let’s talk more about that 2022 campaign. Leonard completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 2,967 yards with 20 touchdowns and 6 interceptions and ran for 699 yards on 5.6 yards per carry with 13 touchdowns. What Notre Dame fan wouldn’t sign up for those statistics right now, one month before the season kicks off?

A successful season would look something like that — staying healthy and being effective and efficient in multiple phases. Leonard threw 392 passes, so his yards per attempt was not anything overly impressive at 7.6. That’s fine, though. Notre Dame wants a version of Leonard who is not looking to take off at the first sign of trouble. Someone who instead utilizes his athleticism to hang in the pocket and make a play downfield.

He’s most certainly allowed to scramble and do it himself, too, but when the time is right. That’s another evaluator of Leonard’s success — whether or not he’s making the right reads and the correct decisions on when to run.

Do everything the right way, and we’re probably looking at a day two NFL Draft choice. Notre Dame hasn’t had one of those — meaning a second- or third-rounder — out of the quarterback spot since DeShone Kizer in 2017. There have only been three of them in the last 30 years — Kizer, Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen .

See now why we’re making a big deal of Leonard’s potential? Because it is one.

Behind the top 25 most important Notre Dame football players ranking

Five voters — Tyler Horka , Kyle Kelly , Todd D. Burlage , Steve Downey and Jack Soble — were asked to rank their top-25 most important Fighting Irish ahead of the upcoming football season. Players were given 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, and so on and so forth.

This list is not necessarily ranking the best players or the top NFL prospects; it’s the most important players. Voters considered talent, impact, place on the depth chart and positional value, but a premium is placed on these two questions: 1) If you subtracted this individual from the roster, how much of a setback would it be? And 2) If this less proven player emerges and makes an impact, how much does that raise the ceiling (or lower it, if a breakout does not happen as expected)?

Individual rankings for Leonard

Jack Soble: No. 1
Tyler Horka: No. 1
Todd D. Burlage: No. 1
Steve Downey: No. 2
Kyle Kelly: No. 2

BGI’s Notre Dame Top 25 so far

1. Riley Leonard (123 points)
2. Benjamin Morrison (117; 2 first-place votes)
3. Xavier Watts (113)*
4. Howard Cross III (113)
5. Mitchell Evans (102)
6. Charles Jagusah (95)
7. Jack Kiser (93)
8. Jeremiyah Love (88)
9. Rylie Mills (82)
10. RJ Oben (71)
11. Kris Mitchell (64)
12. Christian Gray (49)
13. Jadarian Price (48)
14. Jaden Greathouse (47)
15. Jordan Faison (44)
16. Jaylen Sneed (42)
17. Aamil Wagner (36)
18. Ashton Craig (36)
19. Jordan Botelho (32)
20. Billy Schrauth (31)
21. Drayk Bowen (30)
22. Jordan Clark (26)
23. Rod Heard II (24)
24. Jayden Thomas (22)
25. Pat Coogan (19)
*Watts wins the tiebreaker over Cross with the highest individual ranking.

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