After pacing Notre Dame to the CFP national-championship game in his only season with the Fighting Irish, quarterback Riley Leonard hoped to continue his football career in Indiana, and he had gear from only two NFL teams available for his possible post-draft interviews – the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts came through for Leonard by choosing the former Fairhope High School standout in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 26.

“There’s no place that I would rather be than back in Indiana,” Leonard said. “So even when I was at the (NFL Scouting) Combine in Indianapolis, it kind of just felt like home. …

“The whole draft process, every time Indiana comes on, on the screen, I’m crossing my fingers, and it came at the perfect time. Couldn’t ask for much more. All I wanted to be, you know, the only place I wanted to be was in Indianapolis and to hear my name called. It didn’t matter the round.”

Leonard completed 269-of-403 passes for 2,861 yards with 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions and ran for 906 yards and 17 touchdowns on 184 carries in 16 games for Notre Dame in 2024. That season with the Irish came after three seasons at Duke for Leonard.

“We liked Riley,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said. “And we’ve been following him since — like we follow all these guys for their whole careers. So we’ve been following him from Duke. Then he goes to Notre Dame and has a lot of success. He’d been training with Philip Rivers, so, of course, that is a definite connection. But good to get him. He’s a good player, good athlete. We think he’s got some upside. He’ll come in and compete.”

An Alabama prep star at Athens, Rivers concluded his 17-year career as an NFL quarterback with a season in Indianapolis before becoming the football coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope.

“He’s got a really cool place in his backyard where he’ll throw,” Leonard said. “And I was able to throw with his younger son, who’s an outstanding talent by the way, Gunner Rivers. And I think probably the biggest thing that I learned was just how intentional he is about every little thing. Like, if we’re doing the warmup and we’re taking five-step drops, those five-step drops have to be pristine in order for them to be good enough for him.”

Colts coach Shane Steichen worked with Rivers for six seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers. Steichen made it a point to attend Notre Dame’s pro day.

“To have a head coach at your pro day and tell you you threw it well afterwards is, you know, all the difference-maker,” Leonard said. “So to see him take the short drive up to South Bend — two-hour drive or something like that — was really cool.”

In the four seasons since Rivers started every game for the Colts in 2020, Indianapolis has started seven quarterbacks and has another unsettled situation at the position.

The fourth pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Anthony Richardson started four of his first five games as a rookie before an injury sidelined him for the rest of the season. Richardson started 11 games in 2024, but the Colts also used veteran Joe Flacco as their starter in six games.

Flacco is gone, but former New York Giants starter Daniel Jones joined Indianapolis as a free agent this offseason.

“I just think the athletic ability that he has at the quarterback position, what he was able to do at Notre Dame this year, leading them to a national championship, speaks volumes of the player and the competitor that he is,” Steichen said of Leonard. “So just to add that depth in that room is big.”

Leonard will start work with the Colts at their rookie minicamp on Friday and Saturday.

“I think a couple things that they enjoyed was, No. 1, my ability to extend plays and make plays as a playmaker,” Leonard said. “I think they like my preparation and the way that I handle things off the field. I think the intangibles are something that I can take advantage of and help the quarterback room in whatever way possible.

“And some things I’m trying to get better at — there are a lot of things, man. I don’t think I’m nearly the player I want to be and have a lot of potential to be. But I think being able to play with my eyes and be a little bit more disciplined in the pocket, right? You’re not going to be able to extend the plays that you did in college as much. So operating in the pocket and playing on time are a couple things that I really want to emphasize.”

Leonard was an honorable-mention All-State selection in 2019 and a second-team pick in 2020 for Fairhope in football. For the Pirates boys’ basketball team, Leonard earned third-team All-State recognition in 2020 and first-team selection in 2021.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.