Duke football: Riley Leonard is turning into one of the ACC’s best

The quarterback for Duke football isn’t having his name mentioned in the same breath as North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Sam Hartman of Wake Forest. Unlike some other quarterbacks in the conference, he isn’t considered good simply because of the uniform he wears. But make no mistake, Riley Leonard has quietly turned into one of the ACC’s best.

He’s gotten pretty good at this quarterback thing

It didn’t take long for the sophomore from Alabama to establish himself as a weapon who can use both his arm and legs. He’s thrown for 1176 yards, seven touchdowns, and has just two interceptions-one of which Elko said was not Leonard’s fault. He has the highest completion percentage in the ACC (72%). His 261 yards rushing (good for fourteenth in the conference) and 6.4 yards per carry average tell you he’s dangerous regardless if it is a designed run or scramble.

There is an awful lot I like about Leonard. One of the things I like is the way he takes care of the football. He takes what a defense gives and does not force passes. A lot of young quarterbacks don’t do this. Coaches love quarterbacks who know when to throw the ball. Wanna know what they love even more? A quarterback who knows when to NOT throw the ball. Leonard’s decision making has been outstanding so far. His command of the offense has been outstanding as well and is not lost on head coach Mike Elko, “He’s allowed us the way he’s played these first five games … he’s allowed us to open up a little bit more because he’s showing that we can trust them and that he can execute the offense at a really high level.”

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Things you teach, things you can’t teach

Watching Leonard continually improve at climbing the pocket and his presence in it is the result of the work offensive coordinator Kevin Johns has done with him. Those are things you can teach. His ball placement, poise, and internal clock on when he needs to get rid of the ball are things you can’t teach. His ball placement is the stuff of elite quarterbacks. He can still get a bit scatter-armed here and there, but that is normal in young quarterbacks. But you can’t teach someone to put the ball where Leonard does on a consistent basis. Want to know the best thing about him? We’re only five games into this. He’s going to get better and better. How good do I think he can ultimately be? Elite. I think Riley Leonard can be an truly elite quarterback someday.

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I’m not just looking at stats when I say Leonard is one of the ACC’s best. Sure, stats are a part of it, but it is mostly those things that don’t show up in a box score as the reason why I hold him in such high regard. It won’t be long before others begin to hold him in high regard as well. Mark my words, folks, Riley Leonard can be elite.