Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard didn’t hide his disappointment after Monday night’s College Football Championship loss to Ohio State, but he still proclaimed Jesus’ name.
Despite an impressive first quarter from the Fighting Irish, the Buckeyes quickly bounced back and dominated the rest of the game with a 34–23 win Monday night.
“Before I answer your question, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for giving me the opportunity to play in this game,” Leonard began a press conference after the game. “I wrote on my hand Proverbs, 27:17: ‘As iron sharpens irons, so should one man sharpen another.’ And I think, like I said throughout the week, you know, us and Ohio State, we’re the two teams who praise Jesus Christ the most. And I think that we strengthen each other in our faith through coming to this game and competing against each other.”
“So I’m happy to see godly men come out on top, no matter what the circumstances,” he added. “I’m very, you know, happy to praise Jesus in the lowest as well.”
“I think as far as this program goes, we’ve learned a lot. We’ve been through ups and downs. I’ve been through ups and downs. I don’t even recognize the person I was before I got to Notre Dame, and it’s all credit to these guys beside me and everybody else in the locker room,” he concluded.
In an article Leonard wrote for The Player’s Tribune, he discussed how his faith “is really what’s guided me as a person for a long time — both on the football field and off of it.”
“I started diving into the Bible, and learning all these valuable lessons. One of the biggest lessons was how nobody is greater than anybody,” Leonard explained. “Which maybe sounds obvious, but life sometimes puts us in positions where it’s easy to ignore what’s obvious.”
“Being a starting quarterback is definitely one of those positions. I think just the way that you get treated as QB1, and the expectations that get placed on you, it’s tempting to put yourself above other people. It’s tempting to start to think that you’re somebody. But you’re not,” he continued. “One of my favorite Bible verses, Matthew 23:12, it says: “Those who exalt themselves or praise themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be praised.” I wear those words on my wrist every game.”
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