Graduate tight end Kevin Bauman and senior quarterback Riley Leonard today were named to the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award Watch list. Since 2018, the award has recognized college football student-athletes for overcoming injury, illness or other circumstances.
Bauman suffered a partially-torn ACL in 2023 preseason camp and was unable to play that season. In 2022, he saw action in three games (catching three passes for 44 yards) before an ACL tear ended his season. Now recovered, Bauman will look to play a role in the Irish offense in 2024.
A 2024 Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List selection, Leonard started all seven games in which he played for Duke in 2023, going 95-for-165 and 1,102 yards (57.5 percent completion rate) and three touchdowns, before a season-ending ankle injury. He rushed 58 times for 352 yards (44-yard long) and four touchdowns on the season.
In 2022, he started all 13 games for the Blue Devils, completing 250-of-392 (.638) passes for 2,967 yards with 20 touchdowns, while leading the team in rushing with 699 yards on 124 carries and 13 touchdowns. He was one of three FBS quarterbacks to amass more than 2,900 passing yards and 695 rushing yards, joining LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
At the conclusion of each season, in a vote by a panel of college football writers, editors, and sports information directors, three college football student-athletes are honored as Comeback Player of the Year Award winners at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.