Riley Leonard names 4 CFB Legends ft. former Heisman winner Robert Griffin III as his inspiration ahead of Ohio State game

Quarterback Riley Leonard and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are scheduled to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship game on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Fighting Irish punched their ticket after defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions 27-24 in the Orange Bowl.

On Tuesday, Leonard appeared on "The Rich Eisen Show" to talk about his preparations. To start the interview, Eisen asked him about his inspirations and which players he looked up to growing up. He mentioned former Heisman winner Robert Griffin III and three others.

"Yeah so Philip Rivers, he actually lives right down the road from me now," Leonard said (starts at 0:45). "I was a big fan of his. Drew Brees was another guy I liked. Tim Tebow and RGIII were my you know, college dudes I looked up to and wanted to be like one day."

Riley Leonard talks about living near former NFL player Philip Rivers

Rich Eisen was interested to hear about Riley Leonard living down the road from former NFL player Philip Rivers. So, he asked him if he got the opportunity to talk to him much.

"Yes sir, I actually brought like eight receivers down home and he actually has a football field in his backyard," Leonard said. "So, we trained with him and we were able to train with him, we watched his films, we trained with him for three days this summer. Me and like eight of the receivers, we took a little retreat down to Alabama. It was hot."

Eisen then followed up, asking if there was anything Riley Leonard was able to learn from Rivers.

"Oh, that's a loaded question but the biggest thing is the way he attacks anything is the way he attacks football," Eisen added. "He said one time, "how you do anything is how you do everything," and like the way he approaches swimming in the swimming pool is the same way he approaches a game.

"It's just a competition. Anything he can make a competition, anyway he can be the best, he's gonna do anything he can do to win. So, there's a lot of lessons, but he's wired differently."

Riley Leonard will put his training with Philip Rivers to the test on Monday when he plays in the national championship game. The Fighting Irish are (+280) underdogs while Ohio State is a (-355) favorite.