It’s safe to say that the transfer of quarterback Riley Leonard worked out for Notre Dame, as they made it all the way to the College Football Playoff championship game.
Their opponent, Ohio State, was starting a transfer as well in Will Howard. The Buckeyes would clinch the game on a great throw from Howard to set up a field goal late in the fourth quarter, showing how important of a pick-up he was. However, the Buckeyes were not his first choice, Notre Dame was.
Howard spoke on the Not Just Football podcast hosted by former Ohio State and current Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and explained his process of moving on from Kansas State. He said that “I thought I was going to end up at Notre Dame, and a lot of people don’t know this. It was very under wraps, but they ended up signing Riley right before I was about to commit. I was about to commit that day, and I called my agent and he’s like ‘sorry buddy, they just told me they took Riley,’ and I was like ‘what?’ They weren’t even talking about him.”
It fueled Howard during the championship game, as he wasn’t happy with the situation that unfolded during the off-season. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, it didn’t work out although the result with Leonard was great, and now, we’ll always wonder what would have happened if the Irish had gotten Howard from the portal.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Notre Dame narrowly missed getting a different elite transfer quarterback last fall
Reporting by Michael Chen , Fighting Irish Wire / Fighting Irish Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
