If Duke quarterback Riley Leonard needs any motivation entering his second year as the Blue Devils’ starter, it’s all right there on his wrist.
The junior, who finished in the top five in preseason voting for ACC Player of the Year, wears a blue band around his wrist that spells out the message “YOU SUCK” in white letters.
It was a gift from his mom.
No, Heather Leonard isn’t the new face of Little League parents gone wrong — the second coming of Marv Marinovich. Riley has the same home-field advantage as most college athletes. His mom is just doing what her son requested.
“My whole life, I’ve kind of gotten a lot of praise,” Leonard said. “So I wanted my mom … I went to my mom one day and said, ‘Hey, someone has to bash me and tell me I suck to give me motivation.’ She’s, like, ‘Shoot, I’ll do it.’
“That’s been happening for a long time ever since high school,” he added. “Yeah, it’s a pretty funny tradition we have going.”
She supplements the bracelet with the occasional crank call to her son.
“Before every game, she calls me,” he said. “She texted me last night (before ACC Football Kickoff), ‘Hey, don’t suck at these interviews.’ Things like that. It just gives me some motivation.”
While the phrase could have been accurately leveled at the Blue Devils in several recent seasons, Leonard and Duke did not suck last year. He was fourth in the ACC in passing, had a higher completion percentage than Sam Hartman and fewer interceptions than Drake Maye, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors.
In addition to his 2,997 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air, Leonard was also Duke’s leading rusher on the season. His performance helped Duke finish fifth in the ACC in scoring and go from a 3-9 season to 9-4 in coach Mike Elko’s first year at the helm.
Now Elko and Leonard both need to follow up on their impressive debuts.
That sometimes requires tough love. After Duke hit the practice field for the first time in the preseason — a workout that, by all accounts, went well — Elko said, “Every 0-12 team in the country just had a good practice.”
Elko is clearly pushing his team not to be satisfied with last season’s quick turnaround.
“We spent a lot of time this offseason with messaging,” he said. “Everyone in there knows we’re here to chase greatness. That’s what I want this program to be about. And when that’s your goal, you don’t have time to look back on what you’ve accomplished. The focus has to be on what’s right in front of your face and how you can get better.”
That’s why, even though Duke returns more starters than any other team in the ACC, including Leonard, Elko is looking at the entire depth chart.
“I would say this, I would say no roles are cemented,” he said. “And I would not be surprised if of the 17 returning starters, a couple of them are in really big challenges and battles this camp to keep their jobs.
“That’s the program that you want, and that’s what you want to build. You want to know that your youth and your young guys are developing, that you’re bringing new guys into the program to push the level of play and that there is open competition because I think competition is what makes everybody better.”
That and a few harsh words, just to keep your quarterback on his toes.
When asked about Leonard, Elko said, “I think there’s a lot of really talented quarterbacks in this league. I think it’s one of the things that differentiates this league across the country.”
Still, there’s a time to switch out the stick for the carrot.
“I think the volume of NFL quarterbacks that we see and we play against is really high,” Elko continued, “and I think we’re really happy to have the guy that we have.”
In other words, maybe Riley Leonard doesn’t suck.
“Coach Elko is great,” Leonard said. “He is great at keeping me — never letting me become complacent. He is always going to be just like my mom, keeping me humble.”
