Notre Dame’s front loaded schedule inevitably means some of the best quarterbacks they’ll face in the regular season will come early and often. It’ll be quick out of the gate facing one of the more recognizable quarterbacks in the country, and then A&M back home, plus an in-state rival comes right afterward. Today, we’ll look at the quarterback situations shaping up in Coral Gables, College Station, and West Lafayette.

BOLD denotes returning starter

Game #1 Miami

Carson Beck, 6th-Year Senior
Emory Williams, Redshirt Sophomore
Luke Nickel, Freshman
Judd Anderson, Redshirt Freshman

Last year, Miami dipped into the transfer portal and came through with one of the best deals in recent history via this spring’s no. 1 overall NFL pick Cam Ward who came from Washington State and previously Incarnate Word. As a follow up, the Canes made one of the splashiest moves of the off-season by paying $4.5 million in NIL money to Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck.

As many Irish fans recall, Beck was injured in the SEC Championship Game and didn’t face Notre Dame in the playoffs. He had UCL elbow surgery shortly before Christmas and didn’t throw during spring practice at his new home. Almost 5 months after surgery, Beck was cleared for all throwing activities in the middle of May.

Beck was present but chilling during spring ball at Miami. 

Emory Williams was a 3-star recruit in the 2023 class and will be entering his 3rd year with the program. He made a couple starts as a true freshman and has thrown 97 passes and 4 touchdowns throughout his career so far. During spring practice, Williams and true freshman Luke Nickel were splitting 1st-team reps and coincidentally both played high school at Milton High School on the Florida Panhandle. If Beck is healthy and starting there’s surely no need to rush Nickel but reports out of Coral Gables suggest the younger player is more talented and will push for the no. 2 job.

Last year’s signee Judd Anderson came out of the top Georgia high school Warner Robins as a low 3-star but appears to be completely passed up on the depth chart already.

THREAT LEVEL – 8.4/10

Beck has the potential to be a big problem for the Irish. He is somewhat controversial player who didn’t live up to big expectations last year but there’s still a lot of raw talent…if his throwing arm is truly 100% healthy. Notre Dame has done a good job in recent years clamping down on good quarterbacks (hell yes, we rock) although if Miami surrounds Beck with quality talent their offense could be difficult to contain.

Game #2 Texas A&M

Marcel Reed, Redshirt Sophomore
Jacob Zeno, 7th-Year Senior
Miles O’Neill, Redshirt Freshman
Brady Hart, Freshman
Eli Morcos, Freshman

When Notre Dame opened up last season against the 12th Man the Aggies had Connor Weigman behind center. He played poorly in a loss against the Irish, got banged up, and was eventually replaced by Marcel Reed (after a brief switch back to Weigman in October) for the remainder of 2024 and heads into this season as the entrenched starter.

Reed is quite skinny (listed at 185 lbs. on the 2025 roster up from 180 last year) and has good running ability with 543 yards and 7 touchdowns last year. His throwing ability and accuracy are definitely not at dangerous Power program levels from what we’ve seen so far.

A&M brought in transfer Jacob Zeno for an incredible 7th season. He languished at Baylor for 3 seasons before spending 3 more at UAB, started for the Blazers in 2023, and then had season-ending shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm before entering the portal in 2024. In his career, he’s thrown for just under 5,000 yards and 32 touchdowns–he’s a decent veteran backup option.

7th-year vet Zeno joins Old Man Elko at A&M. 

Miles O’Niell was a low 4-star recruit from last cycle out of the Hun School in New Jersey. The Aggies went ahead and signed 2 quarterbacks in the 2025 class including top 200 recruit Brady Hart (briefly on Notre Dame’s radar last cycle) and the super lowly rated (1,448th player in the Composite!) Eli Morcos out of nearby Montgomery, Texas.

THREAT LEVEL – 6.2/10

We’re lucky a bye week comes right after Miami as it’ll give Notre Dame time to breathe and prepare for Reed’s athletic ability. He’ll probably be super annoying extending drives in a way that Conner Weigman just wasn’t capable of doing last year. Can he take the next step as a passer? Will A&M have scary weapons to throw to? This feels like a typical A&M offense for 2025, good enough on their day but far from elite.

Game #3 Purdue

Ryan Browne, Redshirt Sophomore
Malachi Singleton, Redshirt Sophomore
Evans Chuba, Redshirt Freshman
Bennett Meredith, Redshirt Junior
Garyt Odom, Freshman

Once upon a time Hudson Card was a coveted transfer prospect coming out of Texas and a 2-year stint at Purdue absolutely did not work out as the Boilers turned in the worst offense among power programs last year and got their coach fired. Card finished under 60% completions in both seasons at Purdue with only 24 touchdown passes to 15 interceptions. He went undrafted this spring.

The Purdue quarterback depth chart is a giant question mark going into the summer. They lost backup Ryan Browne to North Carolina only to see him reverse course and head back to West Lafayette–even though he’s still not listed on the 2025 roster. Redshirt freshman CJ Colson was brought in from UCF only to see him leave following spring practice. What a hot mess.

Browne is back at Purdue. Maybe.

Malachi Singleton transferred over from Arkansas and basically has one game of experience among his 28 career pass attempts. The curiously named Evans Chuba spent one year at Washington State and then came to Purdue this off-season. Bennett Meredith came over from Arizona State prior to 2023 but doesn’t look to be in the picture as much as the others.

Also, Garyt Odom, son of new head coach Barry Odom, was previously committed to UNLV and then followed his dad to Purdue as the no. 2,151st ranked player in the 2025 Composite.

THREAT LEVEL – 2.8/10

The quarterback situation looks pretty dire for Purdue and Odom seemed to signal they were still looking at more options in the transfer portal coming out of spring–that’s never a good sign. It’s difficult to see how the Boilermakers will improve a ton on offense in 2025. There’s probably a 45% chance the quarterback who starts their first game this fall is already benched for the Notre Dame game.