Rapid Fire: Riley Leonard Confidence, Desmond Howard And Paul Finebaum Notre Dame Takes

are you ready for Rapid Fire Let's Do It All right scale of one to 10 how much differently do you feel about Notre Dame's quarterback situation heading into this year compared to heading into last year and now you can use both positive and negative numbers on your scale of 1 to 10 so if you feel good it's a positive number if you feel negative it's a negative number yeah so at at the beginning of last season I was we were all kind of scared about Sam Hartman playing in an offense that wasn't you know prototypical to what he was running at Wake Forest new offensive coordinator um I would say in comparison I feel like a six out of 10 because I do still think like I am more I feel more positive about the quarterback situation this year than I did last year I think Riley Leonard while he might not be you know maybe as good as a passer as Sam Hartman yet um I still think he has incredible arm strength I think with the proper kind of guidance um and mentoring from you know gin guli uh Mike denrock we're going to see kind of some passing unlocked between Ryan Leonard but again the main thing that I like with ryot Leonard is the stress that he's going to put on the defense with his legs he's not a one-dimensional quarterback he doesn't need to rely solely on his Run game he can get into the RPO game he can get into the quarterback counter game quarterback power game I just think that he provides another dimension to this offense where again you don't have to rely solely on the pass and if the pass isn't working you know things aren't ultimately going well so that's why I have to say I'm more positive about the quarterback situation this year and cherry on top I again we can't forget that Ryan Leonard was on a lot of a lot of people's big boards you know before some of the injuries happened Sam Harman not on a lot of people's big boards so that's why I would say I'm more confident this season see what when I did this what I was trying to do was put myself like how did I actually feel a year ago obviously not knowing you know a year ago that there was going to be Mike Den Brock and Riley Leonard here you know what I'm saying so it's like not trying to take myself out of knowing what the result of last year ended up being how did I actually feel going in so that's kind of where I'm putting it now do think you can separate it since we do have hindsight being able to kind of look back on how things did work out but my true number just in comparison to where I was a year ago with Sam Hartman versus where I am right now with Riley Leonard it's probably a four like I feel a four better like I've seen a lot of you know nines and tens and stuff like that now again we had a pretty inflated opinion of what the receivers were going to be last year um we've got a pretty inflated opinion of what they're going to be this year but the the biggest difference is you've got three guys who have transferred in who we expect to be able to make pretty immediate impact on this group not to mention you've got guys like faon and uh you know great house and and Thomas who are going to have their own impact and then like you mentioned Riley Leonard's legs like I think so I think looking back like if I was just like knowing what I knew then versus knowing what I know now it would probably like my number is up closer to a seven because I think that the the biggest thing with Sam Hartman wasn't coming out of that slow mesh offense and you know coming into a more traditional Pro offense and all those different things I just feel like for a guy who had already played five years of college football like he had he had reached his ceiling you know like he had pretty much maxed out yeah on his ceiling there's still a ton of potential left I don't think best version of Riley Leonard yet quarterback exactly and when you combine that with a much much different offensive coordinator and a much more imaginative offensive system and you know all the experience that he's going to have with these wide receivers that Sam Hartman also didn't have last year you know again my number goes up knowing now what I didn't you know knowing now what I didn't know then my number is up to about a seven that's how much better I feel going into this season with Riley Leonard kind of the last thing I would say for this is you know Riley Leonard's ability to run the run the ball also Mass you know maybe some of the deficiencies that you would see in the passing game because the passing game doesn't become more crucial there is more margin of air in terms of maybe the wide receiver doesn't run the most precise route or maybe he's off his landmark by you know a yard or two but again with Ry Leonard's threat to run the ball that also means that the DBS the linebackers are off their landmark by a step or two right so I think it allows for more of a margin of air in the passing game absolutely Desmond Howard said today on ESPN that if Notre Dame beats Texas A&M this week you can write them in Inc to be in the college football playoff do you buy or sell that I buy that 100% And I'm glad that Desmond Howard finally uttered some nice words about Notre Dame but you know I think at the national level everyone's just writing off this schedule for Notre Dame I'm not quite there yet I'm I'm always a guy you know I you got to wait for the season to play out to really understand how good these teams are I mean look at Georgia Tech and Florida State this past week like everyone thought Florida state would be a sleeper and I know some people are like oh I picked them to beat Florida State not a lot of people did and Florida State was a lot better on paper but what happened Georgia Tech won that's what you have to see some of these team like Louisville of last year no one thought Louisville was going to be that great right like maybe a person or two but when you look at this schedule on paper there's three games in my opinion that are super influential Texas A&M Florida State USC if Notre Dame wins against Texas A&M I believe their bottom floor should only be one loss after that and an 11 and one team Notre Dame team is getting into the playoffs no matter what we know an undefeated team is getting in I think you if you go 10- two somehow that's where you're kind of 5050 on whether or not newre Dame is going to make it but one of those two losses I think would come against Texas A&M so if you take care of Texas A&M I really only see a one loss team after that at worse I think so as well like is Georgia Tech going to be better than we thought I know a lot of people think Georgia Tech is going to be as I said yesterday I've been saying all along don't overlook Georgia Tech like they were they were going to be better you know hannes king and the whole thing but also as I said yesterday you're not just going to be able to play this you know run control control the clock running offense against Notre Dame hannes King to beat Notre Dame is gonna have to make some throws so I mean it'll still be I think a you know pretty well contested game but I I I still think that Notre has the edge in that game but I think you're absolutely right like you beat Texas A&M the rest of your schedule absolutely lays out that that worst case scenario you've got one loss and you should make it in but the other question Marcus you know a big question I should say a big question Marcus Freeman has to answer this season is are these inexplicable inexplicable losses inexplicable performances a thing of the past you had Marshall and Stanford in year one they got better as the season went on it upped our expectations going into last year but then you had Louisville and Clemson now the common denominator is they're both on the road and the toughest parts of your schedule with the exception of USC you're either going to be in a neutral site Georgia Tech or you know home games Louisville and Florida State depending on what those teams end up being but are they past the inexplicable losses I think that's the biggest thing left for Marcus Freeman to prove in year three can can he have a team that's going to be favored to win most of the games that they play this season really probably all but this opener they're going to be favored the rest of the season can they win all those games can they can they can they handle their business week in and week out I think that's the biggest thing that he has to answer this year but I do think that Notre Dame will be in the playoff if they win this game fill in the blank it's blank that Paul fine bomb said today that he thinks Notre Dame will lose to the aies because of the A&M HomeField advantage and because Mike Elco has the upper hand because he knows Riley Leonard's shortcomings it's on brand it's typical that that Paul fine bomb says this because what does he do he Hypes up the SEC and he finds ways to belittle or cut down Notre Dame at the end of the day right I get there is some legitimacy to what he's saying um but Riot Leonard is the more experienced quarterback and you could flip the coin and say you know Riley Leonard has a good idea of the Mike Elco defense he understands you know what they're trying to accomplish I'm sure him and Mike denrock have talked about some of this stuff before is the home field gonna play into it sure but it's not going to play into it if notame comes out and kicks him in the throat and gets up 14-0 right like you got to stun the crowd take control and be the team that's going to you know basically you know take charge of this thing right like there's no doubt that it's going to be a tough environment to play in but I think Notre Dame has a better coaching staff I think Notre Dame has more experience amongst their group of guys together and I think they ultimately have more Talent on the offensive and defensive side of the ball it's just a matter if it can come together and they can play Under composure I again I don't you can't tell me that that the the Texas A&M defense is going to be better than Notre Dames and Al goldens and and flip side you know you could say Leonard and wigman worst case scenario or a wash but I'll take what n Dame has at the wide receiver running back and tight end room over whatever else Texas A&M has offensively it's it's a very SEC myopic statement by Paul fine bomb which is obviously not very surprising because he thinks that the you know the SEC runs the world did did HomeField Advantage do anything for Texas A&M a couple of years ago when Appalachian State went in there and and beat Texas A&M no and I mean that was only a couple years ago that that hasn't been that long and there just as much talent in that you know in on that roster at Texas A&M as there is right now so it it didn't do A&M any you know favors in that game and in terms of you know like the the Elco advantage and all this stuff look he can know Riley Leonard's Tendencies and he can design some things that he thinks will counter whatever Riley Leonard is going to do but Mike Elco can't go out there on the field you know like well he's still a firste coach who's trying to go up against a former player Riley Leonard is still going to make plays like Mike Elko is not going to stop everything just because there's some familiarity there the biggest difference in that and I I neglected to or kind of failed to say this as well is there's a difference between Riley Leonard and whoever was the offensive coordinator at Duke last year and Ry Leonard and a Mike denrock offense no one has seen that yet no one knows what a Mike did Brock offense designed around Ry Leonard and his skills looks like so again until that's actually out there on full display you can't tell me that Mike Elco knows exactly how rileyy Leonard is going to be skiing you know in this offense by Mike denck it's it's not going to look the same for whatever the the Duke offensive coordinator was doing no that's a great point and like even though Mike Elco coached against Notre Dame last year he coached against Sam Hartman in a completely different offensive coordinator and that's what I was saying earlier a completely different set of personnel this year I mean it right down to the offensive line I mean there's not going to be an offensive lineman starting for Notre hes Saturday night that started against Duke at Duke when Mike Elco was the head coach there last year and like you said he's he's not gone up against Mike Den Brock even though LSU and A&M are obviously now well no he wouldn't have even gone against Mike Den Brock when he was the defensive coordinator there before because Den Brock was still at Cincinnati so completely different set of circumstances and I just I I don't think there's any real Advantage one way or the other and again I think maybe there's even more Advantage because you can pick RJ obin's brain a little bit just in terms you know Notre Dame defensive INR also transferred from duke pick his brain a little bit about Mike elos defense and I don't think that's a huge Advantage but I think that there is some advantage to that uh I did want to throw this one up Scott said he said he's fired up for Saturday and he hereby gives us permission to fill in any of the show's content with some of his 37 bold and optimistic predictions the Notre Dame season on the boards right now I think I remember seeing that uh that headline right before the show started I hadn't had a chance to look at that that is on my list of of things to look at so we might be doing that but speaking of the boards K Shaw 12 recently had this on the Champions lounge and I thought this would be kind of a fun one heading into the season he had a list of five questions that he put up there for Notre Dame fans so number one who's the first Notre Dame player that you were a huge fan of I'd say combination Brady Quinn and Jeff Samaria really that's not who I was expecting you to say I thought you were gonna say manai because of your connection I guess that was that's a different era if you ask me kind of in that era yeah I would say Manti Tao for sure but when I first became a notre fan and started going to games it's no doubt I love seeing Brady Quinn throw that deep ball to Jeff Samaria yep you were you were uh you were probably King of the Samaria fan club I had a jersey I had a Samaria Jersey yeah between you know like football and going to all the Notre day baseball games and all that kind of stuff you know that's that's true I didn't think about that I I I didn't think that far back for you mine's rocket Ismail and Chris zorich both together on that 1988 team you know rocket basically the most electrifying athlete ever to suit up for Notre Dame and I just love Chris zorich you know like little bit under siiz but just chewing up the interior you know playing playing nose guard for Notre Dame and and just a key part of that National Championship team in 1988 so those were the first two that I was a fan of question number two where did question number two Go the question actually disappeared have question too yeah the question disappeared from my listen the the is it like your your your greatest early memory of Notre Dame football is that what was your first big moment you remember from a Notre Dame game okay all right go ahead um I would say the bush push um is up there and then I mean I always go back to this play and I know it wasn't crazy but Jeff Samaria catching that pass against UCLA in the two-minute drive to go on and win the game uh I think it happened with like 10 seconds left in the game Notre Dame was getting outplayed uh us was definitely the underdog and I just remember sitting in the Sands so mad and so sad because I was like they're going to ruin this season to a team like UCLA and somehow they whip off that that drive Je Mar breaks a tackle and he goes in to win the to win the game and score a touchdown yep that's absolutely right Christopher Hardy says Catholics versus convicts and that's where I'm going with mine now this wasn't in person and like this question didn't specify that it had to be in person my most distinct like big memory is Pat Terrell's pass breakup on the two-point try against Miami at the end of the game to seal the win for Notre Dame and Catholics versus Comics as they went on to win the 1988 National Championship obviously like those weren't my first man like that season was not like the first thing I remember of Notre Dame football because I was a little bit older at that point but basically most of the 80s up until that point were very forgettable and you know not not nearly as many like actual memories in the moment during the 70s when I was younger watching Notre Dame football like I was very anti uh Joe Montana for a long time if that tells you anything you know because I remembered him more for who he was as a 49er than uh than a Notre Dame quarterback who is your most underappreciated Notre Dame player of all time I thought this was a little bit tough personally in your speechless yeah I I was accidentally on mute oh were you talking I just saw I thought you were kind of doing an uh what what's yours I kind of want to I went with cavari Russell I think underappreciated is hard but I went with cavari Russell because this is a convert this was a converted High School running back who came in and started at cornerback as a freshman and as a result you know not all because of him but if he doesn't play to the level that he played at they don't end up going undefeated in the 2012 season and getting to the BCS championship game but he was a freshman as a converted High School running back playing quarterback that season so I went with Russell I really don't know I wanted to say like golden Golden Tate because of know he's an undersized wide receiver he ended up going on to the NFL but I don't think people realize in the moment you know like how how good of a like wide receiver he was like yeah he was good but you know that I don't think that they've had a Golden Tate you know since then but I don't really like my answer to be honest with you I just had to put someone out there I feel like he's pretty appreciated personally [Laughter] but like I said I think the underappreciate are harder ones what one single play would you change from a Past Notre Dame game I I I would have to go back to the bush push game I I think that was you know Notre Dame had they won that game it potentially goes on you know Brady Quinn Charlie Weiss are GNA play for a national championship so uh you can't really say you can't really say that Notre Dame like in the playoff appearances you know against Alabama in the championship they got crushed they didn't really bode well against Clemson or Alabama like you can't boil that down to say like one play kind of changed the outcome of the game um so I would I think you could because my play is that same game I'm going the Matt liner to Dwayne Jarrett pass yeah that those are kind of like twofold in my opinion like you could pick either one of those it was fourth and long though you know if if that pass isn't complete it's game over right there so I I'm going linert to Jarrett and then I I would say second would be the the illegal pick play that was called against Florida State for personal reasons because that was my freshman year of college we were at a house party all watching this game together I was like the singular Notre Dame fan in the room and it's and everyone knew it and when Notre Dame got that playoff the entire room went dead dead silent and I freaking you know went nuts and then the play gets called back and then everyone's looking at me like oh that you know like it's easy to make fun of the guy that literally just went nuts you know because his team did something good uh um and I think another one would be the last year against Ohio State not handing the ball off to estim on second or third down and the ball that went through uh the defensive back's hand Brown's hands I think those are also up there that's still that's still a much tougher play than the still photo makes that look on the the you know the the the I think the photo makes it look like it's supposed to be this easy interception if that's Kyle Hamilton it's it's easy but it's not it's DJ Brown you know there's there's a few and like you look at that photo and his fingertips are barely touching that ball and he is reaching up obviously you know you intercept that pass and and it's game over but still not an easy play by any means even though the the the photo makes it look easy uh final question your Mount Rushmore of Notre Dame football who's on it um I'll give you mine real quick new rockney Joe Montana era Paran rocket Ismail that's my four Brady Quinn Manti Tao Jeff Samara and I feel like I gotta go with someone more you're going like all guys who are not 40 yet basically or right around 40 is that well I'm going in my era too I I don't like to pick players that I didn't personally get to watch and you know kind of come up with and and watch and stuff like that like yeah I could say Joe Mont but I never saw him play quarterback for Notre Dame right um I I if I had to go with one more after that I honestly I'm trying to think of someone oh I know who I would say um I would say um either Stefon to it or um I can't think of his name he he actually ended up passing away uh Lewis Nicks would also be up there for me as well I think Golden Tate could be up there um yeah that's kind of like my group I would say Okay interesting very recent group that Jesse has on the Mount Rushmore of Notre Dame football as if nothing happened before the year 2000 basically okay still a good list that's a very Vince likee list to be quite honest like I feel Vince would cop out with a list like that I don't want to think too far back we can make fun of Vince because he's not going to be in until the end of the week now so all right the NCAA good good good answers by the way for the most part till that last one NCAA is giving serious consideration to eliminating the spring transfer portal and only having a December transfer portal window for college football the portal would last 30 days in the winter it would go into effect this year if they approve it a subcommittee just passed it and so they're looking at it this year's window would open on December 9th and it would close on January 7th so do you buy or sell one portal window I buy it and I I don't have a lot of rationale to back it but you know I I I think that here's what I think with the current state of nil and you know the transfer portal I think that there is nothing wrong to kind of holding these guys to a commitment of at least a year right like I don't like the idea of you know because basically you have the second window for you know maybe guys at the end of the what is because the second one is like at the end of the spring right so necess you basically go through Spring ball and a guy's like oh I kind of you know down the depth chart a little bit and he wants to leave I think that you've made your commitment and I think that you basically should kind of have to honor it for that full year I don't think you should just be able to kind of get out of it in the middle of the year yeah in the middle of the year and I I like there's still to me something to you know fighting your way up through a depth chart like I think that should motivate you and kind of you know inspire you to kind of work harder because you're not necessarily seeing the immediate results that you want and again I don't know the implications of maybe you know the recruiting and you know the ins and out of the different aspects of it but to me I just I understand why there is multiple windows so I think once you should make your decision you should be set in that decision and kind of go through a full year before being able to decide you know what I I think I'm gonna transfer out now yeah so like sty and somebody else just said Anthony basically saying the same thing move the December back until after the playoffs if they have only one the problem with that is the spring semester starts in the middle of January so so if you the playoffs aren't going to be done until around that time so you can't open the transfer portal in the middle of January because um shocker there's actually going to class that's part of the deal when it comes to college football because I've seen some other people kind of say this as well like you've got to have that you you've either got to do it one of two ways You' either going to do it like they're going to do it in December and early January before the spring semester starts or you do it all at the end of the spring but obviously what that prohibits is guys getting on campus you know getting with their new team being able to go through spring practice with their new team and stuff like that I hesitantly buy it I can at least buy it until I see you know what it looks like and and what kind of impact you know my initial reaction is I think that you're probably going to see greater numbers go into the portal in December and you know maybe they pull their name back out if they don't you know find the destinations that they're looking for and stuff like that but you know if you're not going to do it at the end of the spring like what I don't know I guess the only option for these players who don't find a home right away in December is just to stay where you are and obviously that's you know kind of an an awkward situation sitation as well I'm not completely opposed to to the one window though but I I I I do still see some benefit to having the spring window because then guys get to you know you get to practice in the spring you get to find out where you stand on the team if things aren't where they need to be then you enter the portal at that point so maybe I'm selling because I I feel like you still need the spring portal I think that that like some people people get anxious and you feel like oh we're going to lose more guys at the end of spring and everybody thought that this year and they didn't lose nearly as many as they thought they were going to other than the punter but I feel like you need to have that at the end of spring so that so that guys can kind of you know find out where they are you know like in the dep chart and that kind of thing in the spring then enter the portal if that's what they ultimately want to do all right Jess we will end it with that a lot of great stuff that we had tonight Carter Carl appreciate his input early in the show great whiteboard breakdowns from you Jesse as we get ready for this opener four days from now Notre Dame in Texas A&M Saturday nights as we continue to countdown we've got more shows of course coming up over the course of the week our first countdown to kickoff will drop Friday don't forget Fridays will not be a live show but you'll be able to find it both on YouTube and on the podcast platforms Friday night as well we're going to drop them Friday nights so everyone has a chance to uh to listen to them may either you know as you're going to the to the game getting ready for the game wherever it happens to be Jesse I will talk to you later thanks to everybody for being here don't forget to hit that like button before you leave we do appreciate it and it helps us out greatly and we will talk to you tomorrow on AB Nation Sports Talk