The state of Alabama’s football teams were long ago eliminated from contention for the College Football Playoff, but there are still some connections with the four teams — Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State — that will play semifinal games this weekend.

Most notable among them is Riley Leonard, the Notre Dame quarterback. Leonard grew up in Baldwin County, where he was a star at Fairhope High School in both football and basketball.

Leonard might have been a more-dominant high school player in basketball, but as a 6-foot-4 forward was limited to small-college opportunities in that sport. He wasn’t all that highly recruited in football, either, with Ole Miss and Vanderbilt his lone SEC offers and Duke, Nebraska and Syracuse his only other offers from power-conference programs in the 2021 recruiting class.

To be fair, Leonard’s recruitment came during the height of the COVID pandemic, and he was thus not able to take official visits or attend camps prior to and during his senior year. The NCAA treated the 2020-21 school year as essentially one long dead period when it came to contact with recruits.

Leonard, of course, chose Duke. He had a breakthrough season with the Blue Devils as a sophomore in 2022, when he passed for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns while rushing for 13 more scores.

Leonard was injured much of the 2023 season, and afterward entered the NCAA transfer portal. He landed at Notre Dame, where his grandfather, Gib Leonard, had played in the 1940s.

Heading into Thursday night’s Orange Bowl vs. Penn State, Leonard has passed for 2,383 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 831 yards and 15 more scores. After his season ends, he’s ticketed to return to his home area and play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile on Feb. 1.

Leonard is one of two players on the Notre Dame roster with state of Alabama connections, though the other did not grow up here. Senior defensive lineman Howard Cross III is the son of the former Alabama and NFL tight end of the same name.

Howard Cross Jr. played at Alabama in the late 1980s before winning a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants during a 13-year pro career. He settled in New Jersey after his playing days, and Howard III graduated from Saint Joseph Regional High School in 2019.

Howard Cross III has totaled 24 tackles and four sacks in 11 games this season, but missed the Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia with an ankle injury. He reportedly returned to practice this week, though it’s not entirely clear how much — if at all — he’ll play against Penn State.

Speaking of the Nittany Lions, they have four players — two of them starters — who played their high school football in the state of Alabama.

Cornerback A.J. Harris, a five-star recruit in the 2023 signing class out of Central-Phenix City, transferred to Penn State this season after spending his freshman year at Georgia. Harris — who played at the Glenwood School in Smiths Station prior to his senior year of high school — was a third-team All-Big Ten pick in 2024, totaling 46 tackles, four tackles for loss, five pass breakups and an interception in 15 games.

Wide receiver Harrison Wallace is in his fourth season at Penn State after a standout career at Pike Road High School near Montgomery. An honorable mention All-Big Ten selection this season, Wallace is second on the Nittany Lions’ team in receptions (46) and yards (723) and is fourth in touchdown catches (4).

Serving in backup roles for Penn State are linebacker DaKaari Nelson (Selma High School) and offensive lineman Henry Boehme (Mountain Brook), both redshirt freshmen. Nelson has played in 14 games this season, totaling five tackles.

Ohio State — which faces Texas in the Cotton Bowl on Friday — has three players with state of Alabama connections. Two of them are starters, while the third was a very high-profile recruit.

Running back Quinshon Judkins joined the Buckeyes this season after two years at Ole Miss in which he rushed for a total of 2,725 yards and 31 touchdowns and was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2023. The former Pike Road star has shared the Buckeyes’ backfield with TreVeyon Henderson this season, but has rushed for 924 yards and 10 touchdowns in 14 games.

Then there is safety Caleb Downs, who transferred in from Alabama after winning the Shaun Alexander Award as the top freshman in the country in 2023. Downs was a first-team All-America pick at Ohio State this season, and has totaled 72 tackles, seven tackles for loss, six pass breakups and an interception in 14 games.

Freshman quarterback Julian Sayin was at Alabama for only a few weeks after signing in December 2023, transferring to Ohio State following the retirement of head coach Nick Saban. The California native — a 5-star recruit in the 2024 class — has appeared in four games as the Buckeyes’ third-string quarterback, completing 5 of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

However, it is Texas that has the largest volume of Alabama connections, with four coaches and two players (plus one very recent former player) with in-state ties.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian was an offensive analyst (and interim offensive coordinator for one game) at Alabama in 2016 and returned to be the Crimson Tide’s full-time offensive coordinator in 2019-2020. When he left Tuscaloosa for Austin prior to the 2021 season, he took with him special teams coordinator/tight end coach Jeff Banks, offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach A.J. Milwee. A Boaz native, Milwee was a walk-on quarterback at Alabama in the early 2000s.

Two Longhorns players also transferred to Texas from Alabama after last season. Tight end Amari Niblack has played only sparingly behind standout starter Gunnar Helms, catching five passes for 33 yards in nine games after totaling 20 receptions for 327 yards and four touchdowns for the Crimson Tide in 2023.

Wide receiver Isaiah Bond — famed for the “Gravedigger” winning touchdown catch against Auburn in 2023 — has had a much larger role at Texas. Bond has 33 receptions for 532 yards and five touchdowns, third behind only Matthew Golden and Helm in yards for the Longhorns this season.

Linebacker Justice Finkley played three seasons at Texas after starring at Hewitt-Trussville High School, but has entered the transfer portal. Finkley totaled 26 tackles, four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in 32 games during his time with the Longhorns.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCORES, SCHEDULE

First Round (campus sites)

Friday, Dec. 20

No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 10 Indiana 17

Saturday, Dec. 21

No. 6 Penn State 38, No. 11 SMU 10

No. 5 Texas 38, No. 12 Clemson 24

No. 8 Ohio State 42, No. 9 Tennessee 17

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Dec. 31

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.): No. 6 Penn State 31, No. 3 Boise State 14

Wednesday, Jan. 1

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Atlanta): No. 5 Texas 39, No. 4 Arizona State 31, 2 OT

Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.): No. 8 Ohio State 41, No. 1 Oregon 21

Thursday, Jan. 2

Allstate Sugar Bowl (New Orleans): No. 7 Notre Dame 23, No. 2 Georgia 10

3 p.m., ESPN

Semifinals

Thursday, Jan. 9

Capital One Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, Fla.): No. 6 Penn State (13-2) vs. No. 7 Notre Dame (13-1), 6:30 p.m., ESPN

Friday, Jan. 10

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (Arlington, Texas): No. 5 Texas (13-2) vs. No. 8 Ohio State (12-2), 6:30 p.m., ESPN

Championship Game

Monday, Jan. 20

Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, 6:30 p.m. ESPN