Riley Leonard

Leonard was married to his high school sweetheart, Molly Walding, on March 28, 2026, in Fairhope, Alabama. He proposed to Walding on July 10, 2025.

He is a Christian. Leonard is the son of Chad and Heather Leonard. His father played basketball at The Citadel, while his uncle Michael Sabol played basketball at Georgetown University.

Leonard was born in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and moved to Fairhope, Alabama, when he was in kindergarten. He attended Fairhope High School, where he played football, basketball, and track under coach Tim Carter.

As a senior quarterback, Leonard passed for 1,900 yards and 25 touchdowns and added 500 rushing yards. He earned all-state honors, was named Alabama Class 7A Player of the Year and AL.com Coastal Player of the Year, and led Fairhope to a 27-2 record. He was also a three-star football prospect and received college basketball offers from programs including Saint Mary's, North Alabama, Samford, and Missouri State.

Leonard played at Duke from 2021 through 2023. He appeared in seven games as a freshman in 2021 and became the Blue Devils' starting quarterback in 2022. That season, he passed for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns, rushed for 699 yards and 13 touchdowns, and received the Duke Football Carmen Falcone Team Most Valuable Player and Offensive MVP Awards as well as Military Bowl MVP honors.

His 2022 campaign made him one of three Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks to record at least 2,900 passing yards and 695 rushing yards, joining Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye. He set Duke single-season records for touchdowns responsible for, with 33, and for his touchdown-to-interception ratio. Leonard was an Honorable Mention All-ACC selection and an Academic All-ACC honoree that year.

In 2023, Leonard started Duke's first seven games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He completed 95 of 165 passes for 1,102 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 352 yards and four touchdowns. He entered the transfer portal in November 2023 and announced his transfer to Notre Dame the following month.

Leonard started all 16 games for Notre Dame in 2024, serving as a team captain. He completed 269 of 403 passes for 2,861 yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, while adding 906 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns.

Notre Dame finished the regular season 11-1 and reached the College Football Playoff despite a loss to Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish defeated Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State to reach the national championship game, where they lost to Ohio State. Leonard broke Notre Dame's single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, finishing with 15.

The Indianapolis Colts selected Leonard with the 189th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He signed with the team on May 9, 2025, and began his rookie season as the third-string quarterback behind Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson.

Leonard was promoted to the primary backup role after Richardson sustained an orbital fracture. He made his NFL debut against the Tennessee Titans and later entered a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after Jones suffered an Achilles tendon injury. In his first NFL start against the Houston Texans, Leonard completed 21 of 34 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, while rushing for 21 yards and another touchdown.