Riley Leonard finds motivation from mom’s harsh (in good spirit) words

DURHAM – Disrespect was easier to find for Riley Leonard a year ago.

That’s when he was a relative unknown for a first-year coaching staff. He was battling Jordan Moore to be Duke’s starting quarterback. Leonard landed at the bottom of a lot of ACC quarterback rankings by sheer inexperience and mystery.

Throughout his rise last season to becoming one of the ACC’s premier quarterbacks, Leonard kept those rankings in mind.

Problem is that now, he’s not at the bottom of those lists. The secret is out that Leonard is one of the best QBs in the league.

So for Duke’s third-year quarterback, staying humble means enlisting Heather Leonard’s help.

“Everybody always tells me how good I am. So I get my mom, actually, before every game to tell me I suck,” Riley Leonard said.

He’s not kidding. There’s even a corresponding blue wristband with white lettering that says, “YOU SUCK.”

“I know that may sound crazy to you guy. She’s not very good at it, either,” Leonard said with a laugh. “She’ll go, ‘I love you, but you suck.’ I just need a little criticism to get me going every once in a while.”

Leonard — this shouldn’t come as a shock — didn’t suck in Duke’s Blue and White game on Friday night, throwing for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He took the opening drive of the game 75 yards and capped it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jalon Calhoun on third-and-6, and later in the first half hit Nick Lampert with a 3-yard strike in the end zone.

It should also be noted: Leonard was hindered by wearing a red jersey, which meant he was down by touch. For a quarterback who was Duke’s leading rusher last season, that was limiting — and he noted that Duke’s other quarterbacks, Henry Belin IV and Grayson Loftis, didn’t have such limitations.

“Yeah, the red jersey kind of affects my game a little bit, to say the least,” Leonard said.

Loftis, the early enrollee, threw a 49-yard touchdown to fellow classmate Apollos Cook in the fourth quarter — which had a running clock — to give the White Team a 19-14 victory. Leonard had fun joking that Loftis’ previous appearance in the game was a three-and-out for the Blue Team (Leonard’s team).

Though it seemed like Leonard’s night had ended when Loftis was alternating teams, coach Mike Elko said it was in the script for his starting QB to come in late and try to win the game.

Leonard got two cracks at drives down a touchdown in the final minutes, unable to muster a drive against the dwindling clock and Duke’s defense.

“He’s not going to sit on the sidelines,” Elko said of Leonard’s competitiveness. “We had it planned there at the end that we were going to come back with Riley if the game was close. … He’s a competitor and he was trying to win it, for sure.”

And he certainly doesn’t suck, in spite of what he has his mom tell before games.

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Here were a few other notes from Friday night:

Sacks can be qualified as “sacks” in the spring when the quarterback has a red jersey on, which means they’re down by touch.

By that definition, defensive end R.J. Oben had four “sacks” on Friday night.

That should only partially diminish the impact the redshirt senior had, though, as his performance was one of the most-positive developments of the night and shows why the staff is excited about his progress.

“I think he has a lot of natural pass rush,” Elko said. “I think he’s really starting to come into his own, play-in, play-out, as the player we think he’s capable of being and not just a pass-rusher.”

Oben had 20 tackles and 4½ sacks last season, starting 12 of Duke’s 13 games.

One of the keys to this offseason and eventually preseason is for the Blue Devils to generate more pressure with four-man rushes. Last season saw the Blue Devils resort to blitzes often.

“He’s critical,” Elko said of Oben’s development. “We have to be able to get more pressure out of our four-down, we have to be able to get some more edge rush. He’s certainly a guy that can provide that for us.”

Since it’s the spring and Duke is about 4½ months away from games that count in the win-loss columns, several notable players didn’t suit up for the spring game.

The key players missing from Duke’s offense were left tackle Graham Barton, guard Maurice McIntyre (both coming off surgery), along with running back Jaquez Moore (banged up in a practice this week).

Also missing offensively were running backs Marquise Collins and Travis Bates, offensive lineman Calib Perez and receiver Luca Diamont.

Duke’s defensive line was short two starters, as DeWayne Carter and Vincent Anthony Jr. are both coming off surgeries and haven’t practiced this spring. Defensive end Anthony Nelson also missed Friday night’s game.

Other defensive players who didn’t suit up were Moussa Kane, Isaiah Fisher-Smith and Kenzy Paul, all of whom are defensive backs.

None of these injuries is expected to result in missed games or even missed fall camp time, Elko said.

Two returning captains will be joined by two newcomers to captaincy for this season.

Carter becomes the first three-time captain in program history, and Jacob Monk returns for his second season as a captain.

Leonard and defensive tackle Ja’Mion Franklin are the newcomers to the captain group. Leonard is a third-year player and second-year starter at quarterback, while Franklin is entering his third season at Duke after transferring from Notre Dame.

“I told everybody today when (Elko) announced the captains that this is the second quarter of how we break our offseason down,” Franklin said. “So we’ve gotta go into the third quarter … and have conviction in our hearts to work hard and get ready for what’s coming into Wallace Wade this year.”