When needed most, Riley Leonard steps up again.
Via. Connor O’Neill- Devils Illustrated
DURHAM – Asking defensive tackle DeWayne Carter for his view of Riley Leonard’s 44-yard touchdown run against Clemson is a reminder that sometimes the people with the worst view of a football game are on the sidelines.
“What was my view? Um, I saw the replay,” Carter said on Monday night. “I was on the bench breathing. I was breathing really hard. I look up and Riley gets to rumbling, I’m like, ‘All right.’ I just hear crowd noise, ‘All right, maybe he got the first down.’
“And you just hear noise, noise. I’m like, ‘Oh he scored, this dude’s insane.’”
That was the defining offensive play in Duke’s 28-7 win over Clemson on Monday night. Its third-year quarterback taking a QB draw on third-and-3 to the right, absorbing a couple of hits behind the line of scrimmage, keeping his feet and somehow escaping for a touchdown.
New Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer gets a storybook ending to his Illini debut
Via Anderson Kimball, The Pantograph
CHAMPAIGN — Luke Altmyer had been preparing for this day for years.
He fought tooth-and-nail in quarterback battles at Mississippi after entering as a four-star recruit, but came up just short. He entered the transfer portal in search of this kind of opportunity, and found a match at Illinois.
Then he won the job in fall camp, and it finally came and hit him. He’d get the chance to be a starting college quarterback and take his team out on the field.
"I knew it'd be a big day, honestly — a day I would never forget no matter if we lost the game or won the game," Altmyer said. "It's my first game here and first real start being that solidified guy. I knew the emotions would be all over the place.
"To see my family before the (pregame) walk and seeing the excitement and all the emotions pouring out from them ... and even after the game, it really was a full circle moment. It felt like it was right."
The debut performance from Altmyer was one to remember with a storybook ending. He finished 18-for-26 with 211 yards, a pair of scores and a pick through the air with 69 yards on the ground.
That last completion, a 33-yard fourth down throw down the sideline to Casey Washington, spearheaded a game-winning field goal.
Inside the unclouded mind of Oregon’s Bo Nix
By Brian Hamilton, The Athletic
EUGENE, Ore. — Clear across the country, Bo Nix is on Park Avenue, arms aloft and spreading the word.
The word, specifically, is BODACIOUS. The ‘B’ and the ‘O’ are stacked and set off in green. Each is the size of a nation-state. The rest of the phrase runs from hand to outstretched hand above the torso of Oregon’s quarterback, his back turned so the world can see the name on the jersey. It gives the impression that the fifth-year senior holds everything together, which has its own metaphorical applications. But it also tells a story even bigger than a Heisman Trophy campaign billboard on display almost 3,000 miles from campus.
In a small conference room with glass walls, the actual Bo Nix appraises this outsize version of himself with deference. Didn’t even know it was real the first time he saw it, he says. It’s not like he’s the first Oregon quarterback to get a billboard in Manhattan, he says. Could’ve picked any of his teammates instead and they’d deserve it. An honor, naturally. “It’s just kind of shocking – like, wow, you’re in a position that that’s even possible,” Nix says. “I honestly never imagined myself being up on a billboard.”
And yet here he is, eye-level with possibility at last.
For the first three years of his collegiate career, Nix was a massive what-could-be, the striving five-star son of a former Auburn quarterback jousting with legacy and expectation. That knotty backstory unraveled with a transfer to Oregon and a 2022 season featuring 4,000-plus total yards, 40-plus touchdowns and a near 72 percent pass completion rate that led all power-conference quarterbacks. Turns out everything Nix went through was fed into a next-gen processor chip somewhere under his spiky blond coif, and out came arcade numbers. Finally. An unclouded mind guides the operation in Eugene. And the Ducks, ranked 15th in both the Associated Press and coaches preseason polls, follow the leader.
Leonard Tabbed to Manning Award Preseason Watch List
Via GoDuke.com
DURHAM – Duke junior quarterback Riley Leonard has been selected to the preseason watch list for the Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which is an honor presented annually to the top quarterback in the country.
This is Leonard's third preseason watch list selection as he was also tabbed to the Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Award watch lists.
Leonard returns for his second campaign as Duke's starting quarterback and was tabbed a team captain for the upcoming season. In 20 career games (14 starts), he has completed 287-of-454 (.632) passes for 3,348 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He owns a career pass efficiency rating of 137.35. On the ground, Leonard has rushed 171 times for 872 yards (5.09) and 15 touchdowns.
'Heady' Altmyer gives Illini offensive threat at QB
By Scott Richey, The News Gazette
CHAMPAIGN — Isaiah Williams’ eyes light up talking about Luke Altmyer’s deep-passing ability.
Williams had his breakout season in 2022 operating mostly as a slot receiver in Illinois’ offense.
The idea was simple.
Get Williams the ball in space and let him put his high-level athleticism to good use.
But Williams wants to do more, wants to elevate his skill set as a wide receiver heading into the 2023 season. Developing into a downfield threat is the ultimate goal, and in Altmyer, he’s found a quarterback who can deliver.
“Truthfully, that’s his specialty,” Williams said. “He’s probably got one of the most pretty deep balls I’ve ever seen. Let’s you run up underneath it. Great touch on the ball. That’s his specialty. That’s his gift is his deep ball.”
Duke QB Riley Leonard is proving his biggest doubters wrong — even his own mother
Despite being the star athlete in Fairhope, Alabama, Leonard didn’t receive a football scholarship offer until the end of his junior year in high school. Until then, he was planning on playing basketball in college. It was only when his quarterbacks coach, David Morris, showed former Duke coach David Cutcliffe his tape that he decided to stick to football.
“I definitely felt like I was overlooked,” Leonard said. “I never took an unofficial or an official visit to any school. I came up here blindly. Obviously, when Cut offers you a scholarship to a school like this, you don’t turn it down. You can’t fail when you come to a school like Duke. I know it’s kind of cliche to say, but worst case scenario, you graduate and you’re going to get a great job.”
Having fun again: Oregon QB Bo Nix is taking it all in during his final college football season
By Max Chadwick, PFF.com
Nix took advantage of the fresh start and looked like a completely different signal-caller in 2022. Across his first three seasons at Auburn, his 69.7% adjusted completion rate ranked just 108th among FBS quarterbacks. But this past season, Nix’s 82.3% mark led the Power Five and placed second in the nation. He attributes his breakout campaign to being the most comfortable he’s ever been in an offense.
“I had another year of growth and maturity,” Nix said. “[I was] playing in a different system and was able to learn something new. I think we did a good job of doing what I was good at last year. We took more shots vertically than I’ve ever done before in the past. If it wasn’t there, I’d throw the checkdown because I knew they’d call it again a few plays later. When we threw them, our receivers were open and our guys made plays.”
Nix, Leonard rise to top of projected draft boards
By Ian Valentino, Pro Football Network
Riley Leonard is a big, athletic presence who has good arm strength and touch on passes. With more consistent ball placement and quicker reads, Leonard can give evaluators confidence he’s ready to make the jump to the NFL.
Bielema: Luke Altmyer has ‘all the touches' to be a great quarterback at Illinois
By James Neveau, Yahoo! Sports
With Tommy DeVito heading to the NFL, Illinois needed an experienced signal-caller under center this season, and head coach Bret Bielema believes they have found the right person in transfer quarterback Luke Altmyer.
Altmyer joined the Illini after spending the last two seasons at Ole Miss, and Bielema says that he believes the former top-rated recruit has what it takes to push Illinois’ offense forward.
“He has a really good football IQ, intelligence, awareness, he’s a great person, and really delves into his relationships,” Bielema told the Big Ten Country podcast. “He’s got really all the touches you need as a quarterback. He can throw it in there in a tight window. He’s got a great deep ball, he’s got good velocity on intermediate throws.”
“Mind Blown” new offensive coordinator Will Stein impressed by quarterback Bo Nix
By Chris Hansen, The Register-Guard
Bo Nix was still in the process of deciding whether he was returning to Oregon for a fifth season of college football when he had a phone conversation in December with Will Stein, the Ducks’ new offensive coordinator.
“I was a little mind blown by just his intensity and what he was looking for from a coach and an offensive standpoint,” Stein recalled Saturday afternoon following Oregon’s fifth practice of the spring.
QB Brock Glenn on learning FSU's offense, picking a coaching staff that 'believes in my talents'
"A coaching staff that believes in me, knows what I can do, and believes in my talents," Glenn said when asked about how Norvell and QB coach Tony Tokarz approached his recruitment. "They stuck with me the entire way."
LSU Quarterback Walker Howard showing growth, confidence
It’s no secret the Tigers are stocked with talent for the future. With both Will Campbell and Emery Jones holding it down in the trenches and Harold Perkins making his presence felt defensively, the foundation has been set, but one player may be the most important piece to this puzzle: Walker Howard.
The five-star quarterback out of Lafayette reaffirmed his commitment to the Tigers once Brian Kelly came to town, making him the highest rated offensive prospect in the 2022 class, and he made an impression quickly.
Bo Nix’s is proving doubters wrong, awakening Ducks
Bo Nix is more than a transplant. There is a refreshing freedom to suddenly being able to change any play. He is a husband (married in July). There is serendipity to a career that started with a win against Oregon (2019 season opener) but ended at Auburn last November with a broken leg.
It's a career that is restarting -- not exactly out of the public eye but -- out of the way in the Pacific Northwest. Seven games in, and especially after Saturday, anything seems possible.