Three completions. That is the number of career completions for quarterback Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr, combined. During his first two seasons with Notre Dame, Minchey completed all three of his passing attempts for 16 yards. Meanwhile, Carr has yet to see the field for the Irish. Those are the two underclassmen that Notre Dame will turn to in place of last year’s breakthrough transfer quarterback, Riley Leonard.
Many believed upperclassman Steve Angeli would be the man to beat for quarterbacking duties in 2025, given his proven in-game experience, but the Notre Dame coaching staff elected to proceed with the inexperienced duo instead. Angeli subsequently entered the transfer portal on April 17th.
Notre Dame head coach, Marcus Freeman, met with the media on Wednesday morning to recap spring camp, which included an update on the ongoing quarterback competition.
“As far as Kenny and CJ, we believe both have the ability to be the starting quarterback,” Freeman admitted. “Both have done a tremendous job in improving through spring practice. Every quarterback has improved, and it was awesome to see.
“It is just tough when you have limited reps to truly say someone separated themself,” Freeman continued. “There were certain days they would get 12 team reps each, and that’s not many. That is probably why I said it’s hard to have a true three-quarterback battle in fall camp because there’s not enough reps to go around.”
The 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year acknowledged the fact that the two guys duking it out for QB1 duties have little to no in-game experience. Having a classic showdown between two gunslingers is what Freeman believes will make the competition even better.
“The thing you can create when you have a true competition where it is 50/50, where your guys are going to battle it out, is you try to put some of that pressure that a real game presents,” Freeman explained. “You have to perform in practice because you understand if you don’t perform consistently, then that other guy is pretty good and he might take off with this race.”
Throwing in shorts and a T-shirt and playing in a spring game with limited contact isn’t the same as playing in a game. That is the difference many Angeli supporters felt was the most significant difference between him, Minchey, and Carr. Notre Dame fans remember Angeli bringing home a Sun Bowl victory and being the spark just before halftime of last year’s Orange Bowl victory. It appears Freeman is also aware of that. He believes a two-quarterback competition will allow him to bring even more heat during practice.
“I’m pleased that we are going to have a true competition as we begin fall camp,” Freeman expressed. “I’m going to try to create some pressure situations where those guys have to perform, so the first time they feel that pressure isn’t going to be when we play Miami.”
Performing well under duress and avoiding sacks are only some of the qualities a coach would want in his starting quarterback. Coincidentally, those were Angeli’s biggest liabilities. Perhaps that is one reason why Minchey and Carr stepped ahead of Angeli on the depth chart. The other may be that they possess a higher upside, and Freeman admitted as much.
“There’s a lot of things,” Freeman said of why he’s confident in Minchey and Carr as the starting quarterback for the 2025 season. “Decision making. Are you making the right decisions is probably the most important thing. Delivering the ball. The ability to create plays when things are breaking down and at taking care of the football. Those are the things that we really, really evaluate, and they’ve done a tremendous job at doing that.
“Are we making the right decisions, are we making the right checks, are we eliminating self-inflicted wounds, and ultimately are we taking care of the football,” Freeman added. “I thought all of our quarterbacks really did a good job of doing that.”
Notre Dame will begin the 2025 season against the Miami Hurricanes in Miami on August 31st, so when will a starter be named?
“That decision is going to be made when they (Minchey and Carr) help us make that decision,” Freeman concluded. “I don’t ever want to put a timetable on that. Let’s hope it’s before the first game, but at the end of the day I believe there has to be one guy that is the starting quarterback.”
I’m personally looking forward to a little more consistent downfield excitement with our receivers, and I’m sure they are too. Couple that with the Love and Price duo, man, lights out.
2 unproven commodities = Risk/reward is high either way.
180 degrees from the predictablity of Riley Leonard. However, his ceiling was a little higher than we thought it was