Who’s ready for a real quarterback competition?!?
Notre Dame didn’t have to begin the 2025 campaign with a tricky season-opener while starting a highly inexperienced quarterback. Riding with rising redshirt junior Steve Angeli or bringing in a transfer again would’ve been the safe, and perhaps smart, play for a program looking to ride momentum from a National Championship Game appearance and deep playoff run.
Instead, no transfer was sought out and Angeli is now off to Syracuse where he could potentially return to South Bend for Senior Day as the starting quarterback of the Orange. In terms of practice hype we now get to witness a true one-on-one quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey and redshirt freshman CJ Carr. It’s the stuff fall camp dreams are made of, really.
Minchey & Carr’s upbeat spring game interviews were in stark contrast to Angeli.
It’s a move full of hope and expectation, but ultimately probably the right decision and worth it for the long-term future. As Andy mentioned recently, Angeli leaving means Irish fans should be excited. While I can be a little defensive about talk of Peanut Butter’s lack of ceiling, at the very least Notre Dame seemingly choosing to go in another direction offers up hope for a brighter future.
#1
There’s the possibility that Angeli was in fact the clubhouse leader coming out of the spring, wanted to win the job and/or felt like he won the job, but Freeman not willing to name him the starter drove the redshirt junior to look elsewhere with his eligibility. I don’t necessarily believe that (it’s way too much risk if he was pretty firmly 1A coming out of spring because he would’ve played a lot for the Irish in 2025 if so) but it’s certainly possible that is what happened here.
A lot of semi-experienced quarterbacks heading into their 4th season wouldn’t be too pumped about sharing reps all spring with 2 others. This doesn’t preclude Minchey and Carr making a move, though, and it’s also certainly possible Angeli felt they were breathing down his neck and his days were numbered.
#2
While we don’t get to see or hear much about the program during the spring we really don’t get much of anything during the summer workouts, but these can be crucial to the success or lack thereof with a quarterback battle. I harken back to 2012 when Tommy Rees was returning, Andrew Hendrix was an upperclassman, and 5-star Gunner Kiel was arriving. Instead, reports suggested Everett Golson had that dawg in him and made a big move to take command of the job during summer workouts.
Rees was arrested for kicking a cop and the rest was history.
Internally or externally, they may name a starting quarterback within 2 weeks this August to prepare for Miami and that makes summer so important to come in to fall with momentum and belief from players and coaches that you’re the guy to pick. The reporting seems pretty locked up with Freeman’s coaching staff these days, yet I’ll be curious to see if anything leaks out about someone emerging with their summer presence.
#3
Trying to put some sportsbooks odds on this quarterback battle it has to be solidly in favor of Kenny Minchey. Is it 60-40 in favor of him? Is it as much as 70-30 right now? He has the stronger arm, more explosiveness, better running ability, and has been tagged with the all-important high ceiling. While he’s not super experienced (3 career pass attempts, 3 career completions!) on the field and doesn’t have more than just a third’s share this past spring practicing with the 1st-string offense, he’s now the veteran leader of the room.
#4
Is there a possibility CJ Carr is actually the favorite, though? One way is to think that Minchey, like Angeli before him, may be prioritizing getting a degree from Notre Dame. The comparison isn’t as similar as Minchey now has a clearer opportunity to the field than Angeli ever did but even if Carr is the internal leader it would still make some sense for Minchey to stick around and see how things shake out. He’d be one snap away from starting–and potentially starting for a very long time if there’s a serious injury involved.
#5
If you’re on the Team Carr hype train the thought process goes something like this. At worst, he’s looked incredibly competent since the day he stepped on campus. At best, he’s shown glimpses of being a 5-star prospect ready to take over the program.
Also, Carr’s throwing ability has looked very, very good in the opportunities we’ve seen. Smooth, under composure, technically efficient, and he’s looked extremely accurate with good decision making ability. These things are hard to ignore with Carr’s eligibility starting to tick down now.
Who’s the Pick?
The logic points to Minchey winning the job. I’m really curious to see Minchey’s athleticism when the bullets start flying because if that’s truly a major asset he’s going to have an ace in the hole in the competition and a huge crutch for the coaching staff to rely on with an opener in the unfriendly confines of sweaty Miami. We know offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock prefers and likes a mobile quarterback and replacing Riley Leonard’s absurd 57 rushing 1st downs from a year ago is going to be a massive transition that will need to be plugged no matter how impressive we think the running back room will be.
It would make sense to open the season with the older and athletic Minchey and hope that his passing skills will translate to success moving the football. However, a key to this discussion is some skepticism on my part on Minchey’s ceiling. He has a quick if a little funky release, but he hasn’t looked better fundamentally or more accurate than Carr to date. I’m not really sold that his ceiling is super high, or that much higher than Carr’s. I don’t think this is a case of Minchey being a certified 1st round talent waiting to develop or that Carr’s passing ability puts him behind in terms of ceiling.
If it’s a copout to say both will play that’s exactly what I expect to happen eventually. Angeli leaving probably points to Minchey taking the next step and being the 1st-team front-runner but I also believe Carr will be the better quarterback long-term and will get the job at some point while it wouldn’t surprise me if the redshirt freshman is in fact named the starter in mid-August.
