Former Notre Dame Quarterback Steve Angeli To Transfer To Syracuse

Former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli wasn't in the transfer portal very long, as the New Jersey native is headed to Syracuse. Angeli made the decision to jump in the portal on April 17 and less than a week later he has found a new home.

Angeli passed for 772 yards and 10 touchdowns during his Notre Dame career while completing 72.5-percent of his passes. He started Notre Dame's Sun Bowl matchup against Oregon State at the end of the 2023 season. In that game - a 40-8 Notre Dame win - Angeli completed 15-19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns.

Angeli was the backup in 2024 to starter Riley Leonard and he was called upon again late in the Orange Bowl when Leonard was knocked out for a series. Angeli complete 6-7 passes for 44 yards and got the Irish into field goal range, which helped the Irish get on the board.

Syracuse makes sense in some ways but is a questionable decision in others. 

Syracuse is obviously closer to his hometown of Westfield, N.J. The quarterbacks coach at Syracuse is Nunzio Campanile, the brother of Angeli's high school head coach Vito Campanile. Syracuse is also an offense geared around throwing the football, and 2024 quarterback Kyle McCord led the nation with 4,779 passing yards and was fifth nationally with 34 passing touchdowns. 

The question is that Syracuse landed a talented quarterback during the winter portal period when former LSU quarterback Rickie Collins joined the program. According to various reports, Collins had a strong spring and won the starting quarterback job. Does Angeli just walk in as the starter? Does he have to compete with Collins? Will Collins stick around? We'll learn the answers to all of that relatively quickly.

Collins went 7-7 for 38 yards in two seasons as a backup quarterback at LSU, and he also added 37 rushing yards. Angeli has far, far more experience than Collins, but the Louisiana native is a talented quarterback in his own right. The situation doesn't seem a whole lot different than the one he just left at Notre Dame, assuming that Collins gets a chance to compete for the job once Angeli arrives.

The other interesting angle is that going to Syracuse means Angeli will return to Notre Dame during the 2025 season. Notre Dame hosts Syracuse on November 22nd, which will also be Senior Day for the Irish.