“You suck,” were the two words Riley Leonard’s mother, Heather Leonard would text him before every game.
As mean as that sounds, it was her way of telling him that she loves her and she supports her. The mother-son duo started the tradition since the quarterback had “started to listen so much to what other people had to think about me,” and he needed someone to ground him before he performed. That is the kind of bond he shares with his family.
Leonard’s draft stock was on the rise going into the 2025 NFL Draft class after his stellar National Championship-contender run with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2024. His family played a quintessential role in pushing him to reach that level.
Who Are Riley Leonard’s Brothers?
Riley’s big, sports-loving family also includes his two brothers, Devin and Cole. Riley is the middle child between the two, and he shares an “inseparable” bond with both of them.
The quarterback grew up playing football, basketball, and golf with his brothers, mirroring the passion of their father, Chad Leonard, a college basketball star at The Citadel.
He mentions that growing up, he and his brothers were “inseparable” and even insisted on sharing a bedroom despite having extra space in their house. They would often “get into all types of trouble together,” building forts, playing with Star Wars lightsabers, and playing sports.
“We actually had a couple of extra bedrooms in our house, so we could’ve each had our own — but we insisted on not splitting up. Our parents caved and let us squeeze three beds into one room,” Riley said, reminiscing about his childhood with his brothers, according to The People’s Tribune.
“We’d build these insane forts, using whatever random objects we could find. We were obsessed with Star Wars and would constantly be battling with our lightsabers (we got them for Christmas one year). And we’d play a lot of sports, obviously, both with and against each other,” he further added.
