SOUTH BEND — Former Notre Dame football star Brady Quinn and projected 2024 starting quarterback Riley Leonard finally met over the weekend at the Golic SubPar Classic fundraising dinner.
The venue was the concourse at Notre Dame Stadium on a balmy Saturday night, and the chat was brief but notable.
“That was my first interaction with him,” Quinn, a college football analyst for FOX Sports, said after Sunday’s charity golf outing at Warren Golf Course. “I’ve probably seen him more on tape than I’ve been able to spend time with him in person. … I’ve only kind of watched him on film from afar.”
Initial impressions?
“He’s a big kid,” Quinn said of the 6-foot-4, 216-pound senior. “He fits the bill for that. He’s a good athlete. He’s got a strong arm. I think he’s very capable of stepping into that role and being the guy. Obviously, an experienced quarterback. He brings all those intangibles to Notre Dame.”
The Duke transfer also faces questions about his surgically repaired right ankle after procedures in mid-January and March 22. While Leonard sat out the bulk of spring practice, he was said to be moving well in recent offseason throwing sessions with his new receiving corps.
Quinn, who overcame a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot at the end of his three-year run with the Cleveland Browns (2007-09), knows what it’s like to face doubts while returning from injury.
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“I mean, look, injuries are always a concern,” said Quinn, now 39 and a decade removed from a pro career with seven NFL teams. “Especially when you’ve got a history. I dealt with foot issues. It’s just something you have to stay on top of and keep trying to do rehab, do different drills and things to help put yourself in the right position.”
A four-year starter at Notre Dame and a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist, Quinn also noted the role of the Irish offensive line, the play-calling of offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and the importance of “getting the ball out of (Leonard’s) hand quick” as key factors in helping the ballyhooed acquisition make it through the season healthy.
Denbrock’s first Notre Dame stint, coaching offensive tackles and tight ends, overlapped with Quinn’s first two college seasons.
Making the connection with Loren Landow
With a run to the national championship game in Atlanta on Jan. 20 now requiring a 16-game gauntlet for an independent such as Notre Dame, durability and depth are more vital than ever.
In Loren Landow, hired in December as Notre Dame’s director of football performance, Quinn believes the Irish have a leg up on that part of the equation.
“He’ll be able to prepare the players so they’re not putting their body in comprised positions,” Quinn said. “From my experience training with him, working with him back when I was with the Denver Broncos, he’s one of the greatest I’ve been around — maybe the best out there. They’re fortunate to have him.”
Landow, who spent five seasons (2018-22) with the Broncos, previously worked with Quinn during the 2011 NFL lockout. Landow also worked with Quinn’s wife, former U.S. Olympic gymnast and silver medalist Alicia Sacramone, in her comeback from a torn Achilles tendon in 2011.
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When longtime strength coach Matt Balis resigned last July on the eve of his seventh season at Notre Dame, Quinn helped connect Landow with Irish coach Marcus Freeman.
“(Landow) had reached out to me once the opening became public, expressing an interest, and I literally called him right away,” Quinn said. “I said, ‘No way. Are you for real?’ Again, my experience with him, all the athletes he’s worked with from football players to Olympians to everyone, he’s so well versed, he’s so well known in that community.”
Landow had served as a consultant for U.S. national teams in women’s soccer, bobsled and swimming; the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball; the NFL’s Carolina Panthers; the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League; and college programs at Stanford, Colorado and Kansas.
Still, he didn’t blink when Quinn put him on the spot.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, man, of course I’m interested. It’s Notre Dame,’ “ Quinn recalled. “I connected him to Marcus, and Marcus said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do anything right now, but after the season.’ And so, sure enough, it was a good fit.”
With construction underway at Shields Family Hall, set to open in the fall of 2026, Landow will have plenty of say in the sports performance aspects of Notre Dame’s augmented facilities for football and beyond.
“I think for Notre Dame to be at the forefront of sports performance, he’s the perfect person for that,” Quinn said. “He sees the big picture, the 30,000-foot view of where, not only just football, but I think it’s all the athletic programs of where they’re trying to get to and maximize the time he has with them and maximize their time on the field.”
As a founding board member for Notre Dame’s NIL collective, the FUND, Quinn believes the new digs will be “unrivaled” in that regard.
“As far as minds, I’d put what we have right here at Notre Dame up against anyone,” Quinn said. “And especially with what we currently have for facilities, but what we’re going to have too with the new sports performance center. It’s going to be the best.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com
