3 Fighting Irish on Thin Ice Heading Into 2024 Season

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are trying to build off last season’s success heading into a pivotal 2024 season. They finished the 2023 season with a 10-3 record, winning four out of their past five games to punch their ticket to a bowl game. 

Notre Dame defeated Oregon State 40-8 in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl to put a cap on another successful season. However, with the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams this year, the pressure is on head coach Marcus Freeman to lead Notre Dame to a possible national title.

Freeman has been outstanding throughout his first two full seasons at Notre Dame after taking over Brian Kelly at the end of the 2021 season. That said, the CFP was made for a team like the Irish, who don’t play in a Power 5 conference but have the resume to be one of the seven best highest-ranked teams to make the 12-team field.

With all that being said, the Irish have lost a few notable players to the NFL this year such as Sam Hartman, Audric Estime, Joe Alt, and Marist Liufau, which won’t be easy to replace. However, their replacements better be ready because a prestigious football program such as Notre Dame is hungry to be in the national title conversation.

Therefore, we’ll discuss three Fighting Irish players/coaches on thin ice heading into the 2024 season.

3 Fighting Irish on Thin Ice

1. Riley Leonard - QB

It might be outlandish to put Leonard in the ‘thin ice’ category, but he has pressure to prove that he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season. Leonard is currently a contender for the Heisman Trophy (insert odds), partly due to what he did at Duke and the program he’s playing at.

The 6-foot-4 quarterback played in three games last season because of ankle and toe injuries that he tried to fight through. Leonard ultimately had to undergo two ankle surgeries that forced him to miss some time during the offseason.

However, the former Duke quarterback is reportedly healthy and has “no limitations to workout,” according to Dan Morrison of On3. 

If you are a Fighting Irish fan that’s great news as Leonard has huge shoes to fill, taking over for Hartman, who had a good 2023 campaign at Notre Dame. Hartman completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 2,689 yards, 24 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

Nevertheless, if Leonard can come close to those stats this season for the Irish, they should be okay and it’s not impossible to think that can happen. In his second season with the Blue Devils (2022), Leonard completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 2,697 yards, 20 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also was a factor in Duke’s ground attack, posting 699 yards and 13 TDs.

With Estime now in the NFL, it will be interesting to see if the Fighting Irish utilize Leonard on the ground, given his injury history. That said, Notre Dame’s playoff chances hinge on the arm and health of Leonard, which will be one of the more interesting storylines to follow.