COLLEGE STATION, Texas — When coach Mike Elko makes his debut with No. 20 Texas A&M against No. 7 Notre Dame on Saturday, he will see a very familiar face.
Quarterback Riley Leonard transferred to Notre Dame in the offseason after three seasons at Duke, with Elko as his coach for the last two.
“It’s interesting and weird and not really something I want to do,” Elko said. “But at the end of the day, it’s part of the game. I have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is, not just as a player but also as a young man. I have respect for his family. It’ll be three hours competing against each other and the rest of the year rooting for him.”
Leonard takes over for Sam Hartman, who threw for 2,689 yards last season after transferring from Wake Forest. Leonard played only seven games last season because of injuries, but he threw for 2,794 yards and 20 touchdowns while running for 636 yards and 11 scores in leading Duke to nine wins in 2022.
“To be able to play against him, it’s awesome,” Leonard said. “It’s not just him. It’s a lot of the coaching staff from Duke and it’s a lot of people I’m close with. We’re all extremely competitive. This game means a lot to me. People say every game is the same, but this means a lot to me. I don’t want to make it about me versus Elko.”
Elko was asked if his knowledge of Leonard would give the Aggies an advantage.
“I would argue that he has more of an upper hand than we do,” Elko said. “He’s probably a little bit more familiar with this defense than most quarterbacks we play. It’s not the exact defense we ran at Duke, but we don’t have a ton of comfort as a program going against this offense.”
Weigman returns
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman returns after suffering a season-ending foot injury in the fourth game last year. He had thrown for more than 300 yards in two of his three full games and had eight touchdown passes.
He will face a secondary that boasts two of the top defensive backs in the country in cornerback Benjamin Morrison and safety Xavier Watts. Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player last season after tying for first in the country with seven interceptions. Morrison is projected to be a first-round NFL draft pick.
“They’re really elite in the secondary,” Elko said. “Benjamin Morrison is one of the best corners in the country. It’s a big challenge. It’s a challenge that we’ll be ready for.”
Road test
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman spent time during camp trying to re-create the atmosphere his team will face on the road this season after the Irish struggled away from home at times last year.
“We’ve trained that,” he said. “We’ve trained being able to execute your assignment in crazy conditions with crowd noise and trying to do surprise situations in practice.”
But he knows anything they did in practice won’t come close to replicating what Notre Dame will face Saturday in front of a Kyle Field crowd certain to surpass 100,000.
“You can do it in practice,” he said. “That builds confidence within yourself and with your coaching staff. But you’ve got to do it when it matters versus an opponent, and we won’t know that answer until we get to Saturday.”
Key transfers
While Leonard leads the group of transfers making their debut, both teams feature many other new faces nabbed from the portal.
The most significant additions are Notre Dame wide receiver Kris Mitchell and Texas A&M defensive end Nic Scourton.
Mitchell joined the Irish after four seasons at Florida International, where he had a career-high 1,118 receiving yards last year.
The 6-foot-4, 285-pound Scourton, who spent the last two seasons at Purdue, was named a second-team preseason AP All-American. He led the Big Ten and ranked eighth in the nation with 10 sacks in 2023.
No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 20 Texas A&M
Time/TV: 6:30 p.m., ABC-7.
Line: Texas A&M by 3.
Series: Notre Dame leads 3-2.
Facts & figures: The teams’ first three meetings were in the Cotton Bowl. … This will be the second time Notre Dame has visited Kyle Field. … Notre Dame has won six of its last seven openers. … The Aggies led the SEC with 42 sacks last season and were second with 99 tackles for a loss. … Texas A&M LB Taurean York started 13 games as a freshman last year, piling up 74 tackles, including 7½ for a loss.