We’ve arrived at the last installment in our 0ff-season series taking a look at the quarterback situations at all of Notre Dame’s 2025 opponents. If you missed the first 3 articles, I’ll link to them below. In today’s final post we have perhaps an underrated quarterback in Pittsburgh, a high profile transfer situation in New York, and the mess being sorted out in Palo Alto.
BOLD denotes returning starter
Game #10 Pittsburgh
Eli Holstein, Redshirt Sophomore
Cole Gonzales, Senior
Mason Heintschel, Freshman
David Lynch, Redshirt Sophomore
Last off-season, Pittsburgh added Eli Holstein in the transfer portal from Alabama after the former top 100 recruit spent just one season with the Crimson Tide. He made 10 starts for the Panthers with solid numbers (2,228 passing yards, 17 TD, 7 INT, 328 rushing yards) but missed 3 games late in the season and only briefly participated in a 4th while being banged up.
Primary 2024 backup Nate Yarnell is rising into a 5th-year senior but transferred this off-season to Texas State. He threw for just over 1,000 yards in Holstein’s absence last year.
Holstein, sneaky good?
There were some high hopes for local kid and 2024 recruit Julian Dugger who got some action in Pitt’s bowl game throwing for 72 yards and running for 88 more but after the spring didn’t pan out his way Dugger is now at Washington State. The program also saw 2023 recruit Ty Dieffencah transfer out this past December to Cal-Poly in his native California.
True freshman Mason Heintschel impressed as an early enrollee and may be the backup for 2025, although Pitt brought in a transfer recently in Cole Gonzales. The latter quarterback played 3 seasons at Western Carolina, transferred to Oklahoma this spring, and then left Norman for Pitt. The program also has former PWO David Lynch in reserve who has seen the field a little bit over his career.
THREAT LEVEL – 6.1/10
This is potentially a tricky game for Notre Dame. When healthy, Holstein was pretty good last year and made it to 7-0 before the injuries hit. He’s a talent passer who looks physically more like a pro-style quarterback but he can also move really well, too. Behind him, this depth chart is pretty rough. Gonzales is entirely unproven at the FBS level and a true freshman ultimately becoming the backup is never ideal.
Game #11 Syracuse
Steve Angeli, Redshirt Junior
Rickie Collins, Redshirt Sophomore
Jakhari Williams, Redshirt Freshman
Luke Carney, Freshman
Rich Belin, Freshman
Syracuse hit a homerun last year bringing in Kyle McCord from Ohio State who went on to throw for nearly 4,800 yards with 34 touchdowns in 2024 and became a 6th round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles. For this upcoming fall, the depth chart has been reshuffled as backup Michael Johnson, Jr. left for Akron leaving lots of opportunity.
We know about Steve Angeli leaving the Irish and committing to Syracuse after spring practice concluded. The Orange also brought in LSU transfer Rickie Collins who played very little with the Tigers across 2 seasons but did enroll with Syracuse for spring practice.
Angeli has to win a quarterback competition.
Their depth chart is filled out by a trio of freshmen. Jakhari Williams was a recruit in last year’s 2024 class out of Georgia while the program signed a pair of freshman in this incoming 2025 class. Luke Carney comes from Texas while Rich Belin is from in-state Harlem. With a crowded depth chart, I am curious to see if Belin (listed at 6’0″ and 187 pounds) ultimately switches positions down the line.
THREAT LEVEL – 5.1/10
This spring saw Rickie Collins “win” the starting job over the now departed Johnson but of course the arrival of Angeli changes this for the summer and fall. I believe in Peanut Butter and think he’ll usurp Collins and start the season for the Orange. It’ll be fascinating to see if that happens how Angeli holds up over a full season. I suspect pretty good, but with plenty of ups and downs.
Game #12 Stanford
Elijah Brown, Redshirt Freshman
Dylan Rizk, Redshirt Sophomore
Ben Gulbranson, Senior
Myles Jackson, Redshirt Sophomore
It’s been a lot of chaos for Stanford as they move on from the sudden firing of head coach Troy Taylor and into an interim season with Frank Reich.
Last year’s starter Ashton Daniels left for Auburn, 2024 backup Justin Lamson transferred to Montana State, and 2025 recruit Bear Bachmeier recently decided to switch to BYU after Taylor’s firing.
We should see former Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown step into the starting role in 2025. Who knows if he’ll make it all the way to the end of the season to face the Irish, though.
Transferring from UCF to Stanford is wild.
The Cardinal have 3rd-year veteran Myles Jackson for depth but reached into the transfer portal recently for more help. Dylan Rizk saw the field quite a bit last year at UCF following the injury and benching of KJ Jefferson, ultimately throwing for 904 yards and 5 touchdowns. Also, Ben Gulbranson (remember he started against Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl a couple years ago) briefly retired from football but decided to leave Oregon State for Stanford this off-season.
THREAT LEVEL – 3.8/10
The Troy Taylor HR training didn’t take root but neither did his offense at Stanford. This offense has been a mess for a while. The program is high on former top 200 recruit Brown but he’s coming into this season super inexperienced and it’s definitely to be determined if he’s much of a difference maker. The additions of Rizk and Gulbranson are really solid additions, though. Now, the Cardinal depth chart is as good as it’s looked in a few years.
“A QB at Central Florida transferred to an ACC school” sounds totally reasonable! Now to see which school on/near the Atlantic Coast he’s heading to…