Mike Elko's former QB Riley Leonard will be an X-Factor when Texas A&M and Notre Dame faceoff

Mike elco's former quarterback Riley Leonard is going to be an X Factor when the Aggies face off with a Notre Dame Fighting [Music] Irish you are locked on Aggies your daily podcast on the Texas A&M agies part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome on in to a locked on crossover yes ladies and gentlemen this is Andrew stanc of locked on agies joined by Tyler wojack of locked on Irish and this is gonna be a ball game where a lot of Defense a lot of fun a great way for both of these ball clubs to open up the season one of the more exciting games I mean it's obviously it's why it's game day no question there but it's going to be a great game anybody could take this one we're going to make the case for each of our teams today so Tyler what I want to start with is what everybody wants to talk about it's quarterback play I think we know more about who Riley Leonard is than who we know that Conor wigman is you know Conor wigman we've seen a little bit of true freshman year a little bit of sophomore year had some injuries but he's a guy the NFL Scouts love I'm high on I know a lot of people are so quarterback's gonna play a huge role convince me why Riley Leonard is going to win the quarterback matchup in this football game uh he definitely has a taller task in front of him I was well I guess they both have really difficult task but the thing about Riley Leonard is we might know a little bit more about him compared to Conor wigman but he barely played last year and the irony of uh Notre Dame knocking him out of his season last year even though he tried to come back and play in the Louisville and Florida State games like he was just a shell of himself at that point and now he is the quarterback of Notre Dame it's funny how things have worked out for him since but there's a lot of unknown for for Notre Dame fans to be honest with you I mean they obviously saw him play against Notre Dame last year he's a very very good runner and I think Notre Dame is going to lean heavily on his legs in this game and I think uh Conor wigman is a really good passer I think he probably has a slight Edge over Riley Leonard in that respect but in a game like this when it's going to be lows scoring and one explosive play could end up being the difference I think that Riley Leonard poses a different threat with his legs and maybe he just keeps one option takes it to the house and that could be the difference in this game but I think overall it's a great match up between the quarterbacks they're both extremely talented they're both coming off pretty major injuries so I think there's going to be a little bit of rust to shake off early on but it's going to be a great match up no doubt both of these guys like you said haven't played football in a while when it comes to against another team um and you know Riley Leonard is just a player in general I mean he's just he's a college football guy man you can't not love Riley Leonard and as I as I said when we got got the show started here I mean Riley Leonard was Mike ELO's quarterback at Duke and all coach ELO said is man I love that kid for three hours we're gonna have some serious issues but when it comes to just Riley Leonard great family great person um and Connor wigman though for Notre Dame fans Connor wigman is a quarterback I have called him the best kept secret in college football all offseason and I think that people are starting to buy into it now more than they had in the off season because of NFL Scouts going huh maybe this kid could be a first round pick people are so when the NFL Scouts start to buy into the hype college football fans start to buy into it as well and you know I think that one of the the misconceptions about Conor wigman is he's not he's a pocket passer but he's athletic enough to escape the pocket and use his legs not like Riley Leonard Riley Leonard is a dude who he's going to get outside the pocket he's going to run a lot there's going to be designed runs for him for for Conor wigman I don't think you're going to see that as much you're going to see him take off some he'll take off if it's third and six and he sees green grass he'll go for it but I think that he is known for the the pocket passing more than he is using his legs but he can do it so I think Notre fans don't be surprised if it's third and seven and you see a defensive end chasing after wigman and you go okay here we go they're punting and he goes whoa how did he pick that up he's quicker than I thought he's got that speed so I guess my next conversation for us to have about these quarterbacks Tyler is you know Riley Leonard I would say that he's played in the big game more so than Connor wigman Conor wigman's played against LSU he played in that Miami game last year but this is a tall task for the entire Notre Dame team I know Notre Dame plays in big environments and Loud stadiums and in the heat a lot but I mean do you think that Riley Leonard is going to be ready for an environment like this he's played in him a lot but specifically this game one of the better environments colarge football do you think he's prepared I think Leonard is prepared to play well I don't think he'll be rattled by the environment I mean there's going to be some communication issues no doubt between him and the rest of the team but you know that's going to happen in pretty much every road game it's going to be heightened at Kyle Field given the fact that there's going to be 107,000 screaming fans there so I would say that Leonard has actually never played in an environment like this I mean he played for Duke and that when they played Clemson last year that was a home game so he's played tough ACC games but he's never played in an environment quite like this one that being said I still think he's going to be ready to go even though it's new territ new territory for him but when I look at wigman and you mentioned his running ability I I don't look at him as a guy that's like a statue back there at all he's he reminds me very much of like your standard modern quarterback like what you want that prototype to look like he's six foot three he's 220 pounds his mechanics are very modern he can throw out of different arm slots and he can move around like there's very few quarterbacks left who just stand back there and if there's pressure they can't move like there's not many P Mannings left anymore true you're just back there so wigman is definitely a threat with his legs especially if Dame is you know dropping eight in coverage and they forget to account for him he could definitely run uh and get that first down so it's definitely something that I'm worried about but it is a big game I think that this is just going to be a really interesting Dynamic for both of these guys because it's the first game of the season and season openers are not notoriously kind of sluggish a lot of rush to shake off you add in the fact that they're both coming off those injuries that's just another element to have to deal with so I think there's going to be some Rust at first as the goes on they're both going to settle in they're not going to be afraid of the moment I think they're both going to end up making some big time plays I agree with you and you said something earlier that is so true and it is one play might decide this game we're getting ready in segment two to break down the trenches which is really the key to this game I think for both of these teams is who wins that battle which we're going to talk about that here in a minute but it does feel like one special team's good play one special team's mistake the big turnover the big offensive play one of those three things is going to end up being the Difference Maker in this football game um so you know I'm bought into it Riley Leonard to me though is a quarterback I don't think I've made my case for why I don't think people are talking enough about Conor wigman but at the same time I think Riley lyard is a quarterback with an immense upside he's a great player coming off an injury you know reasy bias is a real thing when players are hurt when players are banged up you kind of forget who they are who they can be and Riley Leonard's a player that if his upside hits this year for the Irish this team can make a colge football playoff and and and that wouldn't be a shocker at all but this game if you want to talk about chances at a college football playoff and build starting to build a resume this is a great you know first step for both of these football teams so we'll uh we'll um you know talk a little bit about that um but I think it's time to get into the trenches but first we got to tell you about our friends over at Factor meals so Factory meals for me it's a thing we got some sent over to us and it's just the convenience the ease of these meals putting them together I absolutely love this product you can meet your Wellness goals they're chef-crafted no prep No Mess meals options for 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receivers getting over in the secondary we'll break that down but at the end of the day to me there's one question that will make this make or break this game Notre Dame's offensive line is Young how are they going to play and I hate to keep bringing up at the environment but that's going to play a role and just flat out it's not easy to play offensive line as a freshman in college football how are those guys in your opinion going to play in this football game against a solid Texas A&M front I have no idea which is probably not the answer that you are looking for but I am so interested to see how this group comes out and they compete against a very very Stout defensive line for T&M I'm sure you've talked about it before on your show Notre Dame is starting a true freshman at left tackle a red freshman at left guard their Center and Right Guard have a little bit of experience three starts for the each of them and then at right tackle Emil Wagner who is going into his third year of college football but this is going to be his first career start it's not an ideal situation if you're Notre name it's just not now the thing is the left guard won the job over two guys who have double digit starts in their career so he must have done something in the off season to make the coaching staff feel comfortable enough to put him there that that's Sam Pendleton and I think it shocked a lot of Notre fans because you just think okay Pat kugan is a senior he started 13 games in his career he was a starter last year he is just going to go right back there in his spot so the fact that this retr freshman came out of nowhere beat him out and must have done it by such a significant margin that the coaching staff is willing to trust him that makes me feel more comfortable however the left tackle did not win the job in the same way that the left guard did because the starting left tackle Charles jagas saww suffered a torn pack injury on like the third practice of Camp so n still had to beat out a fifth year senior to be the backup and now the starter so that was impressive as well but now you put yourself in a weird situation we like okay it's great that these guys won the job but now they're all making their first career starts in Kyle Field in such a difficult environment Mike Den BR is a veteran offensive coordinator he's not an idiot he's going to recognize that this is going to be a very difficult situation for these guys so I'm sure that he has modified the offense the Cadence all the pre-nap operation in a way that is going to put them in the best situation possible that being said it's still going to be incredibly difficult and there's no way anyone knows how this group is going to perform until they actually take the field and do it on Saturday night because it's going to be the first time they've ever done it well and you're completely right and it it's you know I've seen a lot of Notre Dame fans comment and this has been the one thing Notre Dame fans have been the nicest fans we've had some in the SEC we have some some fans we have some hostile fans and you know I loved I've been i' have loved interacting with not fans this week one of the things that I've disagreed with is I keep hearing historically Notre Dame has been great at you know all we put a lot of offensive linan in the NFL that's true I mean there's no obviously debate to that there's a lot of talented Notre Dame offensive line in the NFL where I draw an issue with that argument is like I think that it's hard to feel I couldn't talk myself into confidence with this offensive line just by saying well we've historically put a lot of offensive line in the NFL so I I think that this is where Texas A&M has to take advantage and you know we'll get into in a minute I'll talk a about the offensive line of Texas A&M because ladies and gentlemen you I don't feel much better than you do Tyler and that and you got some older guys there and we'll get to that but Texas A&M's defensive line is really good is really good it's a position full of you know Stars when it comes to high school talent it's full of players transfers a guy named Nick scorton a name I think that hopefully you know Texas M fans want to hear his name said a lot on Saturday night um a guy that came in from Purdue with 10 sacks a talented unit and if I'm coacho if I'm DC J baitman I am saying look what you're going against they're talented but they're young they're they've never done this before you have got to get pressure and if you make Riley Leonard's evening not so fun if you're in his face all game long that is when that potential mistake that we keep talking about could come into play um so that'll be anxious but I mean I know Notre Dame fans be anxious to see how that unit plays but listen Tyler the Texas A&M offensive line is not is literally the biggest question mark on this roster by a mile and it it's such a eerily similar situation for both football teams Texas S&M unit is a little bit older and a little bit more experienced on offense line but it's still the most significant concern on this roster so I mean how do you think Notre Dame front is going to be able to do when it comes to getting pressure on Conor wigman on Saturday well first off I want to say I totally agree with you regarding Notre Dame fans just saying oh well we have had great offensive linemen in the past that's great that's not going to help you Saturday Notre Dame has recruited the position well so it's not like these guys that they're playing aren't talented they're just young and if you think about it this is going to be their worst game you would think right because it's their first game they could end up being like future Hall of Famers yeah but they aren't Hall of Famers on Saturday night and I think I mean unless you know they just shock the world and they come out and they're ready to go which I just don't see that happening as for Notre Dame in the defensive line they have a really good unit Howard cross and Riley Mills are two guys who could both be on NFL rosters today if they wanted to they both decided to come back back and play out their fifth year at Notre Dame so that was huge they both play on the interior they are going to be a force to be reckoned with for the texum um offensive line on the edges they've got RJ Obin coincidentally enough a Duke transfer so Mike Elco knows all about him he was a very good pass rusher and then Jordan patella who's been around Notre Dame for a while it's a very veteran unit every single guy in the Notre Dame defensive line is a graduate senior RJ Oben is a six year so these these guys are grown men and I watched a lot of Tex last year I understand that the offensive line was the biggest weakness when I look at T tm's unit I think their left side is pretty stout treun is good Chase B just Chase bantes is a guy Notre fans are familiar with because they recruited him coming out of Don Bosco the right side of the line I think is where Notre Dame does have an advantage I think Al golden is really GNA test that unit he's going to bring exotic blitzes linebackers give them all kinds of looks to really put the pressure on that side of the line because that that that part doesn't seem to be all the way figured out yet for T&M but when I look at this it's basically if Notre can just make it a wash on the line of scrimmage right I feel better about the rest of the game because when you look at the matchups techm obvious obviously is the biggest mismatch when it comes to their defensive line going against notrees offensive line if not's defensive line could just get that to basically a wash I think they're going to be okay that's going to be a tougher task though because texam just has more veteran guys in that group and bantes is a freak yeah you're you're completely right about that I'm with you in I think Notre Dame has the advantage at a lot of positions like you said to where if Texas A&M can't take advantage of the one place that they really should that's and I've said this that is the key to Victory which that's one of them for Tex M we'll get to that a little bit later but if you don't do that if you can't get pressure on Riley Leonard with that unit against this young offensive line I don't think you win this game um so that is definitely a concern for me you know when it comes to Personnel my last thing I want to ask you about when it comes to Flatout Personnel is Texas amm's wide receivers I feel okay about him I'd even say good I don't think I feel great about him and you look in that Notre Dame Secondary and oh goodness it is awful awful scary I think that's a place as good as con wigman is I think it's G be do you agree with me on this statement I think it's going to be hard for these Texas A&M wide receivers to get open against this Elite secondary Notre Dame yeah I totally agree with you Notre Dame was first in the entire country last year in pass efficiency defense they have two all-americans coming back and cornerback Benjamin Morrison and then safety Xavier Watts Watts had seven interceptions last year he really just exploded in the second half of the year really it started against Duke another coinci with this whole there's so much connective tissue with these two teams which is kind of odd because like there's they have basically nothing in common yeah and there's a lot of overlap there so yeah I think what Al golden is gonna try to do the notame defensive coordinator is he's gonna leave Benjamin Warson on an island and he's gonna trust Christian Gray the field Corner who is going to make is going to be making his first carear starts but from the moment he arrived on campus last year Notre Dam was already raving about him they're like this guy is the next Benjamin Morrison so we'll see about all that you know it's going to be his first care start so it's going to be a little bit difficult but I think that the notame defense is going to trust their defensive backs to be on an island with these tchm wide receivers which would in theory allow them to Blitz a lot more throw a lot of different things at the Tex A&M offense so even if Conor wigman is like really dealing it back there his receivers are gonna have to make some plays in really tight coverage against notams DBS so that's another situation where if the not defensive line if they're able to get pressure with like four guys the game completely opens up for them but if they're going to have to rely on getting six or seven guys blitzing every time then I think Tex A&M wide receivers to who to your point are good maybe not great they're probably going to win some 50-50 battles and then all of a sudden they're going to be moving the ball and the defense could be on their heels but I feel really good about Notre secondary until they give me a reason to think otherwise I'm gonna have a lot of confidence in them I mean last year Benjamin Morrison shut down Marvin Harrison Jr and when he goes to the draft after this year they're going to show that game on draft day over and over and over so if he could just replicate that against TM I feel good about him I'm with you on that especially when Marvin Harrison Jr is an elite player for the Cardinals and hopefully wins some people maybe not me a fantasy Championship but um we're gonna talk a little bit about keys to victory for both of these teams and then we're going to give our score predictions before we wrap up this crossover of locked on agies and locked on Irish we'll talk about those two things coming up right here but first we got to talk about Five Hour Energy listen we've all been there it's a long work day and right after you eat lunch it feels like that is the time where you kind of hit that wall of I need a nap I need to go home this day feels like it it's over the only way to really combat that is Five Hour Energy so research shows that more than 70% of us hit the wall after lunch let a 5H Hour Energy 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believe it's here I'm very excited I'm actually going to be there at the game on Saturday and for all the agie fan listenings or agie fans listening that's a good thing for you because historically I have a pretty tough record when I travel to watch Notre Dame play whether it be on the road or in the postseason my record is not good so I would fade the Irish because of me but in all seriousness I'm with you I can't wait I've been doing this show now for about a year and a half so this will be my second full season doing it and as much as I enjoy offseason content you know there's interesting stuff happening transfer portal recruiting all that there's nothing I enjoy more than watching games and talking about them and getting ready for the next one so I'm with you man I can't wait exactly that that's I mean we've been doing this about the same amount of time then I'm thinking the same thing it's offseason stuff's great but let's talk about some real ex's nose in football so keys to Victory Tyler what is the key to victory for the Irish to go to C field and get a big win I've got two and honestly they could apply to Notre Dame and teex because I think that whoever this the first one is cliche whoever wins the turnover battle I feel very confident is gonna win this game because I just don't imagine there's going to be a lot of long sustained drives for either team that's not to say they won't move the ball a little bit you know T&M is going to have their plays on offense Notre a is gonna have their plays on offense that's just football right but I think explosive plays and turnovers are going to be the difference in this game so whatever team wins a turnover battle you're putting your offense most likely in advantageous field position and then those explosive plays I'm thinking not just chunk plays of like you know 10 to 15 yards I'm talking like 20 30 or more whatever team has more of those is probably going to win this game because you're GNA have to rely on those times because it's going to be a SLO it's going to be a tough these are some really really great defensive Minds two of the best all of college football uh Mike Elco the head coach of T&M I mean before he was the head coach he was an unbelievable defensive coordinator for the aies for years and the defensive coordinator for Notre for one year when he completely turned around the defense so it's G to come down to turnovers it's going to come down to explosive plays it's G to be a great game but I think it's G to be ugly for a big big chunk of it and then there's just going to be those couple plays that will make you go wow and that could be the difference yeah I'm with you for me and I think it's a little cliche as well I'm with you on turnover battle I'm with you on everything you said but Conor wigman dude listen we I keep hearing you're a first round pick if you listen to lockon agies every day you know that Connor wigman I am like the conductor of the Connor wigman hype train I am the CEO this is my Connor wigman you got to go out and do it man you gotta go out and prove it I think that Conor wigman has to go out and have his I'm a legit top 10 quarterback in college football game to beat Notre Dame because I do think that we could end up seeing a watch in the trenches and then it's going to be who's going to go win the game Riley Leonard Conor wigman a receiver whatever who's going to go win the game I think it needs to be Conor wigman he needs to go prove he is the player that I Texas A&M fans and NFL Scouts think he is and this is his opportunity to do that so I think him having his here I am game is what will win this game for the agies so before we wrap it up Tyler give me a score prediction so I'm not going to lie my feelings about this game kind of change by the hour like some moments I'm like really confident that Notre is going to win and then there's others who I'm like man they don't have a chance and I think maybe that's just the fact that we've been talking about this game for so long because it's the season opener we have had so much time during the offseason to get ready for this game I'm gonna go with Notre Dame 17 to 13 I think it's gonna be really tight I would hammer the under it's at 46 and a half right now on FanDuel I honestly thought it could go lower but but I think that's a safe bet it's going to be really difficult for these teams to play offenses play offense but there are going to be opportunities for some big plays some turnovers some things like that so there might be some cheap points that just kind of happen out there and I just think that ultimately Notre Dame's defense is going to be enough to win them this game and they're going to get a key explosive play at the right moment and that's going to be the difference but it should be a great game it's going to go down to the wire I might have a heart attack by the end of it but all that being said I'm looking forward to it well we might both have a heart attack until the game ends we'll have to see what happens I have this game it's funny eerily similar scores I got 1714 Aggies now hear me out moving off of my Spiel my you know make a Conor wigman hype video like literally like play in the stadium that I just you know set up for there I think that Notre Dame leads this game 14-10 and wigman leads a touchdown drive to win the game over no Notre Dame to start the Elco era that's my prediction and you know what's so funny about this game Tyler a lot of games like if it's Georgia versus VY right you know and the Bandy fans are probably like yeah George is gonna win like they'll accept it everything I've seen Aggie fans think A&M's gonna win this game Notre Dame fans think they're gonna win this game there's not the like and I think everybody's fair to feel that way I think it is truly a tossup football game between two great teams whoever wins whoever loses I think both of these teams go on to have great Seasons so that's my prediction really excited for this one I know uh Irish fans are I know that Aggie fans are as well um so Tyler how can everybody uh check out everything you got going on over if they're watching here on locked on agies yeah if you want to watch listen locked on Irish YouTube wherever you get your podcast uh locked on Irish on Twitter locked on Irish pod on Instagram um I will say you've been great Tex andm fans for the most part have been really nice uh everything I've heard about Tex andm fans has been that they're incredibly welcoming so I'm excited to get down Honestly by the time this gets released I will be in College Station excited to to be there take it all in go to Kyle Field experience it all one of us is gonna be happy one of us is gonna be sad uh if you're right if tchm ends up winning on the last Drive I don't know if I'll be able to talk about ning football anymore because the last ning football game that I went to was the Ohio State game last year and that almost that broke me so this should just be pour and salt in the wound but uh it'll be a great game I'm with you on that well listen once again Irish fans if you want to check out some more Texas A&M content leading up to the game you can head on over to locked on agies like I said anywhere you get your podcast or on YouTube uh Tyler it's been great best of luck to the Irish um Everybody gonna be a fun game college football's here I cannot wait I know we all agree on that this has been a locked on crossover between locked on agies and locked on Irish hope everyone has a great rest of your day and we will see you next time