Marcus Freeman Wants To See Consistency and Resiliency From The Notre Dame Quarterbacks

The Notre Dame quarterbacks are without question the biggest storyline for the Fighting Irish heading into fall camp. Whether they play well or struggle, they will be the focus until a starter is named between redshirt freshman CJCarr and redshirt sophomore KennyMinchey. There's good reason for this, as the quarterback will play a big role in helping lead the Irish back to the national championship game. 

Head coach MarcusFreeman, offensive coordinator MikeDenbrock and quarterbacks coach GinoGuidugli will all have a say in who ultimately wins the starting job. Freeman spoke about what he's looking for as this battle rages in camp and the staff gets closer to a decision.

"It’s going to be consistency, right?," Freeman stated following the team's first practice. "I’ve always said, ‘They will determine who’s the starting quarterback.’ We want to see guys that are consistent. We want our quarterbacks, all of them to be consistent. But who can be the most consistent, who can take care of the football, who can continue to keep our offense moving forward, and again, that play happening consistently."

The first day of practice was an up-and-down affair for both quarterbacks. Minchey threw an early interception during a seven-on-seven period, and Carr threw two interceptions in three plays during an early team period. Minchey didn't see safety Adon Shuler coming down into coverage on his pick, while Carr underthrew a post route that was picked off by Tae Johnson. The sophomore safety also made a leaping grab of another Carr pass for his second interception.

Minchey bounced back with a couple of nice throws, including a heater to KevinBauman over the middle. Carr rebounded from his pick with three outstanding throws that went for big gains. He hit JadenGreathouse for a big gain on the next throw he made after the second interception. Carr then hit KKSmith for a big gain on a deep out cut to the left and threw a beautiful deep ball to MicahGilbert up the left sideline for another huge gain.

On the next play, Carr threw a pass that bounced off the hands of Smith and ended in the hands of a diving KarsonHobbs.

The up-and-down performance wasn't necessarily unexpected of the two young quarterbacks that are now battling each other for the starting job after they both surpassed Steve Angeli in the spring. But that kind of up-and-down performance is also what Freeman and the staff are hoping they can work before the team head's south to Miami for the season opener.

It's all part of the process for Freeman and the coaching staff, who will evaluate the play of the quarterbacks, coach them up and help them get better in practice two and beyond. It's about moving on and getting better.

"I'm going to go back and get with the offensive staff, I'll watch and say, 'Okay, hey, let's talk about what decision he should have made,'" Freeman explained. "Did he make the right decision? We'll get to the delivery, the ball and all that. To me it's like what decision do we want him to make here, did he make the right decision, and that's what's more important than anything."

Coaches also want to see quarterbacks respond well to adversity, and bounce back quickly from mistakes. Both quarterbacks did that during the first practice, especially Carr after his second pick. Neither allowed their early mistakes to send them into a tailspin, and neither showed negative energy after their early mistakes, which is a positive sign.

"Now here's what I love in that I heard both of them keep saying 'reload, reload, good or bad play, reload," noted the fourth-year Irish head coach. "Let that last play go because that's the ultimate challenge for everybody in our program, but most importantly the quarterback. .... Take the feedback and move on and reload for the next play. I saw them really working on that today in practice."

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