Riley Leonard arrived at Notre Dame last spring still recovering from an ankle injury that prematurely ended his time at Duke. He wasn't able to participate in spring practices due to the injury, but prior to the 2024 season he still found both the time and the space to throw to his new group of pass catchers.
The space was in a notable setting: Philip Rivers' backyard.
Leonard is a native of Fairhope, Ala., and his parents live about five minutes away from Rivers, the should-be future Hall of Fame quarterback who's now the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope. So in 2024, Leonard invited several Irish pass catchers to Fairhope for a few days to work with him and Rivers – whose backyard, by the way, has a 50-yard turf field with end zones in it.
Those few days left a strong impression on Rivers, who joined Jeffrey Gorman and Matt Taylor on "The Last Word" last week (listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts).
"I thought that said a lot about him being a teammate to those guys at Notre Dame, how much they enjoyed being around him and respected him and how they interacted with them," Rivers said. "And so it was fun to pull for him along the way.
Rivers caught himself following Notre Dame closely during the 2024 season, which saw the Irish reach the College Football Playoff championship game.
"Hey, there's (Jaden) Greathouse," Rivers remembers seeing and then thinking, "he caught that same route in the backyard."
Leonard again returned to Rivers' backyard for several throwing sessions after Notre Dame's season ended, with the quarterback's focus turning toward the 2025 NFL Draft. The more time Rivers spent with Leonard, the more the 17-year veteran quarterback – who spent the final year of his career with the Colts – believed the future 2025 draft pick was ready for the NFL.
And now that Leonard is with the Colts – coached by Shane Steichen, who spent six years as an offensive assistant coach working with Rivers with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers – Rivers believes the sixth-round pick will thrive in Indianapolis, where he'll join a quarterback room headlined by this year's competition between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones.
"(Leonard's) just a real pleasant and enjoyable guy to be around," Rivers said. "Just really humble, but really competitive and wants to just soak up all he can. You always want those young guys to be confident but also have that humility that, 'I got a long way to go.'
"... I think Shane has a great way of communicating (with) and coaching the quarterbacks. Certainly, Shane is completely capable and can assist with the basic fundamentals of pass drops and all that. But Shane is really an unbelievable mind when it comes to understanding defenses and coverages and how to throw certain routes and where they need to be looking at, all those things. So Shane will be a great asset for Riley as he progresses as a young player.
"The thing about Riley, he's going to do all those things right. He's going to be there early. He's going to end up being an asset to the whole quarterback room in terms of preparing the starter for the season, all while he's getting himself better. It'll be a good working environment for Riley and Shane and that offensive staff — I know a handful of those guys as well — they'll do a heck of a job."
