Star Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard gave glory to God and professed that Jesus Christ is always the first priority after leading the Fighting Irish to victory against Texas A&M. Leonard previously played for Duke but transferred to Notre Dame this season.
Leonard emphasized how his upbringing in Fairhope, Alabama, was a significant driver in the development of his faith. The standout athlete emphasized that football isn’t the number-one priority in life. “Every single person in that city that I came into contact with helped me with my faith. I’m able to bring that here. Obviously, that’s the most important thing in my life,” he told The Irish Tribune. “When I go to bed at night, I’m not thinking, ‘How many touchdown passes did I throw?’ ‘Did we win or lose?’ I’m thinking, ‘Did I better my relationship with Jesus Christ? Did I treat my girlfriend with respect? Did I call my parents?’”
When Leonard took to the field, he displayed Matthew 23:12 on his wristband. The verse says, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” This verse clearly inspired Leonard’s mentality of humility.
According to Leonard also highlighted the positive impacts of a Bible study the team has been hosting. “One of the biggest bragging points about this team is we have, like, 40 guys show up to our Bible study sometimes every Thursday. That’s really a credit to them. It started with, like, five guys, but it’s grown to 40,” Leonard said in a press conference. “This team is just so close. And everything that we do, we do as a unit.”
In other news related to Christianity and college football, The Christian Tribune recently reported on an event hosted by members of the Ohio State Football team which spread the message of Christ to many people. The event passed out thousands of donated Bibles to people on campus and even baptized those who were called to give their lives to Christ.
“These Ohio State football players just did something on campus that I have never seen before, a free event put on by some of the Buckeye’s biggest stars collected 1000s from the Ohio State community and grew even more throughout the night,” a narrator said in a TikTok video highlighting the event.
“It was all about sharing their faith in Jesus, which started with everybody coming together to worship, and the energy was amazing. Each of the players went up to share their stories of how their relationship with Jesus has changed their lives and how much God loves each and every person in the crowd,” he added.
“Courageous attendees took a leap of faith to come up front and pray a prayer to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And it only gets better, late into the night, with everyone taking notice, person after person made the decision to get baptized, which is a public profession of their faith, and lives are going to be changed forever,” the narrator concluded.
Featured image credit: Riley Leonard / Instagram