Report: Notre Dame's Riley Leonard Has Shoulder Injury, Expected to Play vs. Purdue

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard is expected to play Saturday at Purdue despite suffering an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, Pete Nakos reported for On3.

Leonard suffered the posterior labrum injury to his left shoulder during last Saturday's loss to Northern Illinois, per Nakos.

Leonard underwent a MRI on the shoulder over the weekend, Nakos reported.

The former Duke star has yet to throw a touchdown through two games with Notre Dame.

Leonard began Saturday's game against Northern Illinois with an 11-yard rushing touchdown, but later struggled with accuracy as he threw two interceptions in the 16-14 loss.

The quarterback took responsibility for the second pick in the loss, which he called a "completely bad read," per The Athletic's Pete Sampson.

Head coach Marcus Freeman told reporters on Monday that Notre Dame, then ranked No. 5 in the AP poll, did not consider putting in backup quarterback Steve Angeli during the upset, which marked the first time Northern Illinois had defeated a top-ten team.

"No, there was no consideration of that," Freeman said after the loss. "We have a lot of belief in Riley and him running our offense."

Notre Dame fell to No. 18 in the AP rankings following the upset.

Leonard will be set to start again against Purdue, although if his struggles continue there is still a chance Angeli could make his season debut. The junior quarterback made eight appearances for the Fighting Irish last season.

When playing for the Blue Devils in 2023 Leonard was limited to seven games after suffering foot and ankle injuries that necessitated multiple offseason surgeries. When healthy last season he completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,102 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, while rushing for 352 additional yards and four touchdowns .

Leonard is still looking to return to the production rates he recorded during his breakout 2022-23 season with Duke. He led the Blue Devils to a 9-4 record that season while passing for 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions, adding 699 yards and 13 scores on the ground.

After opening the season with a victory over Texas A&M, Notre Dame will now look to make it back to the win column while Leonard seeks his first passing touchdown of the season against Purdue.