Marcus Freeman was practically beating the Notre Dame fan base over the head with the take that he wanted the three-man 2025 quarterback race down to two before the Irish reconvene for fall camp this August. It must have been mentioned a half-dozen times during the Blue-Gold spring game. Freeman said conversations would be had with all three following spring practice.
While we can’t know for sure what was said in those conversations, we can assume the most veteran of the three QBs, Steve Angeli, did not hear what he hoped to, as it was reported Thursday afternoon that he was going into the transfer portal. Angeli will, it appears, be graduating this spring, which means he has held up his end of the bargain as a Fighting Irish student, and he’ll have two years of eligibility.
Angeli, of course, held up his end of the deal as a quarterback as well. He unexpectedly found himself thrust into the role of backup in his freshman year when Tyler Buchner got injured, and Angeli ended up redshirting that year. Then, the next two seasons, Angeli was portaled over, first by Sam Hartman and then by Riley Leonard, despite an impressive Sun Bowl victory in between when Hartman opted out of that game. Rather than bounce following Leonard’s commitment, Angeli stayed to be the backup again. That decision paid off for both sides when he (with a big assist from Aamil Wagner recovering his fumble) maybe saved the season in the Orange Bowl semifinal when Leonard was briefly knocked out of the game, leading a field goal drive that made a 10-0 game 10-3 going into the locker room. That paved the way for ND to come back to win.
Angeli staying led to him getting a ND degree, delivering one of the biggest moments of a magical 2024 playoff run, and displaying team-first and leadership qualities that no doubt made him a bit more marketable to wherever he goes next. You’ve never heard so much as a rumored whisper against Angeli from inside the ND program. As many ND fans have pointed out, this is the best of the transfer portal – giving a guy who did everything he was supposed to do on and off the field a chance to play somewhere else when he is unable to secure a starting gig.
Every ND fan, myself included, will and should support him wherever he ends up next.
Now, here’s why Angeli leaving should make you excited.
Absent the Irish’s suddenly being able to reel in five-star talent at every other offensive position, they’re going to need a quarterback with more raw ability than Angeli has to win the national championship. That ability has to be coached and developed, too, of course, but it needs to be there to give ND an incremental edge they’re not going to be able to get from, say, a stacked wide receiver room like Ohio State’s.
It is a very exciting development that a capable guy like Angeli with an experience advantage was not able to fend off younger guys like CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey. It means Carr and Minchey, at minimum, are close enough to Angeli at the stuff he’s good at to allow their advantage in physical ability to make up the difference.
We can’t say for sure which will be the quarterback Aug. 31 in Miami – certainly Carr’s pedigree and his nearly-spotless performance in the spring game will give him the leg up among the fan base – but both have a good deal to recommend them. Carr has shown tantalizing arm talent in his two spring games and, while not close to Leonard as a runner, is sufficiently athletic to get away from pressure and keep defenses off balance with his legs. Minchey probably has an even bigger arm than Carr, though perhaps less refined, and is the best runner of the three. There’s even already unsubstantiated fan base chatter of having a red-zone Minchey package.
One thing whoever the QB is will have is margin for error. One of the best RB groups in the country will be behind him, and one of the best offensive lines in the country will be ahead of him. Unlike Riley Leonard, whoever the QB is will have had reps with their wide receiver corps going back to the spring. More than anything, this is why this decision makes sense, and if Carr or Minchey is who we think they are, Notre Dame is going to have a dang fun season.
