Despite being the star athlete in Fairhope, Alabama, Leonard didn’t receive a football scholarship offer until the end of his junior year in high school. Until then, he was planning on playing basketball in college. It was only when his quarterbacks coach, David Morris, showed former Duke coach David Cutcliffe his tape that he decided to stick to football.

“I definitely felt like I was overlooked,” Leonard said. “I never took an unofficial or an official visit to any school. I came up here blindly. Obviously, when Cut offers you a scholarship to a school like this, you don’t turn it down. You can’t fail when you come to a school like Duke. I know it’s kind of cliche to say, but worst case scenario, you graduate and you’re going to get a great job.”

By Max Chadwick, PFF.com

Nix took advantage of the fresh start and looked like a completely different signal-caller in 2022. Across his first three seasons at Auburn, his 69.7% adjusted completion rate ranked just 108th among FBS quarterbacks. But this past season, Nix’s 82.3% mark led the Power Five and placed second in the nation. He attributes his breakout campaign to being the most comfortable he’s ever been in an offense.

“I had another year of growth and maturity,” Nix said. “[I was] playing in a different system and was able to learn something new. I think we did a good job of doing what I was good at last year. We took more shots vertically than I’ve ever done before in the past. If it wasn’t there, I’d throw the checkdown because I knew they’d call it again a few plays later. When we threw them, our receivers were open and our guys made plays.”