Scheidler Shines at Notre Dame
The former Lake Forest all-state quarterback thrives in special teams and scout team role as the Fighting Irish play Monday in national title game
Sitting by his locker deep inside the belly of the New Orleans Superdome, Leo Scheidler heard his name called.
Scheidler, a junior wide receiver for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, grabbed his helmet and leaped to his feet. It was halftime of the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame. As soon as Scheidler and his No. 82 jersey got within earshot, special teams coordinator Marty Biagi delivered the news.
The Irish got the ball to start the second half. One of the return unit starters, Beaux Collins, was hooked up to an IV. Scheidler was going in.
“I knew my job but the coach double-checked my assignment,” Scheidler said. “I was ready to start the second half.”
An all-state quarterback and two-way player (defensive back) for Lake Forest High School in 2021, Scheidler received numerous college offers. He chose to walk on at Notre Dame, knowing full well he may not see the field right away.
That afternoon in New Orleans, he took full advantage of the opportunity given.
Schiedler turned his head as the ball from the Georgia kicker sailed through the air and behind him. It was a returnable ball, so Scheidler’s eyes found return man Jayden Harrison. He looked for the signal.
“He called (the touchback) off, so I knew it was go time,” Scheidler said.
Locking on his assignment, Scheidler shielded the oncoming Georgia defender from approaching Harrison. That left room for Harrison to make a cut away from the middle of the field and towards the far sideline. Then it became a footrace, won by the speedy Harrison.
Touchdown Notre Dame.
“I’m kind of blacking out in the situation and racing down the sideline,” Scheidler said. “You just never know when your number is called and God works in mysterious ways. To be a part of that is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
The Fighting Irish would go on to beat Georgia in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, 23-10. The following week, they won a nail-biter against Penn State (27-24). Monday in Atlanta, Notre Dame faces Ohio State in the national title game, the first in the current 12-team playoff format.
Monday’s title game will be the 16th game Notre Dame has played in the 2024 season. Scheidler has seen action in more than half of them.
When he called me from South Bend on Wednesday, the team had a day off. Otherwise, it was a normal week of prep with the team traveling to Atlanta Friday.
The bulk of Scheidler’s practice duties for the Ohio State game is on scout team offense and special teams.
“I have to give the (defense) some looks on what (the Ohio State) offense kind of does and prep the best way I can,” Scheidler said, adding most of his offensive reps are at the slot position. "That’s more fun (slot). I can be more versatile that way.”
That versatility made Scheidler one of the better players to come out of Lake Forest in decades. A quarterback on the freshman team, Scheidler got called up to varsity as a sophomore in 2019 to play defensive back. In the six-game spring 2021 season, he played wide receiver. That fall, he moved back to quarterback and with him at the controls, the Scouts won 10 games, making it all the way to the 2021 Class 6A semifinals.
Recruited by former Lake Forest quarterback and then-Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, Scheidler turned down FBS and FCS offers to walk on at Notre Dame.
“He’s an incredible player with incredible ability. We were incredibly happy for him when he went to Notre Dame,” Lake Forest High School coach Chuck Spagnoli said, who also coached Rees. “I knew one day he would contribute there and that has happened. He’s not just a name on a jersey, he’s a great young man.”
Weighing 175 pounds in high school, Scheidler has put on close to 20 pounds of muscle since he arrived in South Bend. After seeing action in a handful of games as a sophomore in 2023, Scheidler’s game reps have increased significantly in 2024.
He’s played in eight games, including two in the postseason against Georgia and Penn State. The play in the Georgia game did not happen by accident; a product of hours upon hours of film prep as well as years of mental and physical training.
If there’s a commonality shared by almost all winning programs it’s this: a knack for how to manage a roster. Championship teams know how to maximize usage rates and best evaluate personnel, whether that be a three-year starter or wet-behind-the-ears underclassman. Of course, the sales part of that equation can become tricky when egos get involved.
Scheidler said that’s not an issue with this year’s Notre Dame team.
“Whether you’re a scout team guy or (starting quarterback) Riley Leonard, everyone takes pride in their role and does it to the best of their abilities. If that helps us win a national championship, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?” Scheidler said.
(Lake Forest has another graduate on the current Notre Dame team. Rylie Mills, another former all-state Scouts player, is a fifth-year senior defensive lineman for the Fighting Irish. I requested an interview with Mills but he was not made available. Mills will not play Monday night due to injury.)
Notre Dame’s head coach, Marcus Freeman, has raised his profile during this playoff run by the Fighting Irish. There are rumors the Chicago Bears are waiting to talk to Freeman about their head coaching vacancy. Freeman’s charisma is hard to ignore.
That genuineness is real, according to Scheidler.
“How he is on TV is how he is day in, day out,” Schielder said. “He doesn’t take short cuts or the easy route. He wants the best for his team and will do everything to make sure we’re the best and at the level we are at. I don’t know where there’s a better representation of Notre Dame than Coach Free.”
He added he sees similarities between Freeman and his high school coach, Spagnoli.
“Both are player’s coaches. Both know the time playing football is limited and take life after football very seriously,” Scheidler said. “You can only play for so long so how are you going to go about your life after football is important. Other than both being defensive-minded coaches that’s where there’s the most similarity.”
Along with his teammates and coaches, there are other people in Scheidler’s life sharing this once-in-a-lifetime journey with him.
A former Scouts teammate, Cade Nowik, was in attendance for the December first-round playoff game against Indiana (“He stayed the night. That was a blast,” Schiedler said). Older brother Eddie played defensive back for the Scouts from 2017-18 before moving on to Notre Dame. Leo and Eddie were teammates at Notre Dame in 2022 and ‘23. Now a production assistant for NBC Sports, Eddie has spent time around the team this season as NBC carries broadcast rights on Fighting Irish home games and carried the Army game at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
“He was there (for the Army game) and still the first guy after every game to text me congrats and is one of my biggest fans,” Leo Scheidler said. “I followed him here, he taught me so much and is a massive part of why I continue (to play).”
An older sister, Grace, came to the Georgia game. Grace lives in London and Scheidler hadn’t seen her “since the Sun Bowl” (played in December 2023 in El Paso, Texas). His parents, Ed and Ann Marie, are Notre Dame grads and “have been to all the (playoff) games.”
All of it, all of the joyful drama, is a build-up to Monday and the national title game.
His parents, Eddie, sister Annie and younger brother Jimmy, a junior linebacker for the Scouts, will all be in Atlanta this weekend. Various other family members, aunts and uncles, are also expected to join the celebration.
“They’re all going to have a nice party,” Scheidler said.
For Scheidler and his Notre Dame teammates, the trip is all business. The Fighting Irish will enter Mercedes-Benz stadium with one goal in mind: to beat Ohio State and win a national championship. And maybe, just maybe, sometime during the four quarters of action, jersey number 82 will be called.
If so, Leo Scheidler will be ready.
“I take great pride and joy in what I do,” Scheidler said. “Every once in awhile in big moments, your number is called.”
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