It’s AWARD WATCH LIST season for Notre Dame football and the rest of the country. On Wednesday, Irish tight end Kevin Bauman and Irish quarterback Riley Leonard were named to the watch list for Comeback Player of the Year.

From the ND press release:

Bauman and Leonard on the list of comeback players of the year

SOUTH BEND, Indiana. – Senior tight end Kevin Bauman and senior quarterback Riley Leonard were named today to the list of candidates for the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award. Since 2018, the award has recognized college football student-athletes who have overcome injury, illness or other circumstances.

Bauman suffered a partial tear of his ACL during preseason training in 2023 and was unable to play that season. He appeared in three games in 2022 (catching three passes for 44 yards) before a torn ACL ended his season. After his recovery, Bauman will look to play a role in the Irish offense in 2024.

Leonard, a 2024 Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List honoree, started all seven games he played for Duke in 2023, completing 95 of 165 passes for 1,102 yards (57.5 percent completion rate) and three touchdowns before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He ran 58 times for 352 yards (44 long) and scored four touchdowns this 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 and leading the team in rushing with 699 yards on 124 carries and 13 touchdowns. He was one of three FBS quarterbacks to record more than 2,900 passing yards and 695 rushing yards, joining LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

At the end of each season, three college football student-athletes are honored as winners of the Comeback Player of the Year Award at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, as voted on by a panel of college football writers, editors and sports information directors.