Duke Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard (13) runs the ball 74 yards for a touchdown during the first half of the Blue Devils’ game against North Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.X.
Kaitlin McKeown
Duke quarterback Riley Leonard understands why the Blue Devils were considered to have the ACC’s worst quarterback situation during the preseason. He’d only started one game last season as a freshman. But he still used that slight as motivation and it’s helped him lead the Blue Devils to a 7-4 record and their first bowl berth since 2018.
On the latest ACC Now podcast, Leonard joined the News & Observer’s Steve Wiseman to discuss his standout season, with 16 touchdown passes and 10 touchdown runs, how he came to Duke and why he stayed following coach David Cutcliffe’s departure last November.
Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019, event coverage in 2025 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.